A/N: I do not own any character references by JK Rowling in the Harry Potter series or agree with her comments. This story is a product of my pure imagination. I do not profit from this and will not pay for any commissions for art about this story.
You've got me wide open,
Wide open, now I'm yours.
You found me heartbroken,
Heartbroken, on the floor.
Became my salvation,
Salvation through the war, yeah.
You got me wide open,
Wide open, now I'm sure.
In a world like this where some back down.
I, I, know we're gonna make it.
In a time like this where love comes 'round.
I, I, know we're gonna take it.
In a world like this where people fall apart.
In a time like this where nothing comes from the heart.
In a world like this, I've got you.
~ In a World Like This by The Backstreet Boys
Deep within the Ministry of Magic, Hermione Granger found herself fighting for her life next to her best friend Harry Potter and their friend Neville Longbottom.
The door burst open again, and the two Death Eaters had come hurtling inside.
With a cry of triumph, both yelled, "IMPEDIMENTA!"
Hermione felt her feet leave the ground as she, Harry, and Neville were all knocked backward off their feet.
Hermione groaned as her back smashed into a bookcase and threw her hands up over her face as a cascade of heavy books fell on her. Barely seeing the back of Harry's head slam into the stone wall behind him, as she heard a Death Eater shout, "WE'VE GOT HIM!"
Throwing the books off her body, Hermione's arm shot out as the same Death Eater shouted, "IN AN OFFICE OFF —"
"Silencio!" Hermione shouted out of breath, and the man's voice was extinguished.
Pushing herself to the surface to stand as the Death Eater continued to mouth through the hole in his mask. No sound came out.
"Petrificus Totalus!" shouted Harry, as the second Death Eater raised his wand and his arms and legs snapped together and he fell forward, facedown onto the rug at Harry's feet, stiff as a board and unable to move at all.
Hermione let out a breath in relief. "Well done, Ha —" she said as the Death Eater in front of her made a sudden slashing movement with his wand from which flew a streak of what looked like purple flame.
Her chest burned as if it were burning from deep inside her chest as the flame hit her. "Oh!" she gasped out as she lost consciousness briefly.
"HERMIONE!" Harry's voice came through the fog in her brain as she fought with the pain and the fog to wake.
She heard Neville give a howl of pain as Harry's hand squeezed her shoulder.
"Like you won't kill us all the moment I hand it over anyway!" said Harry.
"Whaddever you do, Harry," said Neville through the fog, "don'd gib it to him!"
In the distance, there was a crash. "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Harry yelled.
"Hermione," Harry said at once, shaking her, "Hermione, wake up ..."
'I'm trying, Harry. It's just so much pain!' Hermione thought, trying to fight through it.
"Whaddid he do to her?" said Neville
"I dunno . . ." Harry said as a cooler hand grabbed her wrist.
"Dat's a pulse, Harry, I'b sure id is . . ."
"She's alive?" Harry asked, his voice full of emotion.
"Yeah, I dink so . . ."
"Neville, we're not far from the exit," Harry whispered. "We're right next to that circular room. If we can just get you across it and find the right door before any more Death Eaters come, I'll bet you can get Hermione up the corridor and into the lift. Then you could find someone. . .Raise the alarm . . ."
"And whad are you going do do?" asked Neville as Hermione started feeling as if she was regaining her consciousness.
"I've got to find the others," said Harry.
"Well, I'b going do find dem wid you," said Neville firmly. "But Hermione —"
"We'll dake her wid us," said Neville firmly. "I'll carry her — you're bedder at fighding dem dan I ab —"
Hermione nearly cried out as someone grabbed one arm, then the other, and briefly lost full consciousness again as she was in the air, then on top of someone, making the pain surge. *Rowling, J.K.. Harry Potter: The Complete Collection (1-7) (pp. 2582-2585). Pottermore Publishing. Kindle Edition.
The next thing that rose to her consciousness was Harry yelling over deafening noise, "It doesn't matter!" Harry shouted. "Just try and stand, let's get out of —"
"Dubbledore!" said Neville.
"What?" Harry asked, confused.
"DUBBLEDORE!"
Hermione felt relief wash over her at Neville's words. She briefly felt Harry's hand sweeping over her wrist again and heard Sirius laugh.
"Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled, his voice echoing.
Harry's hand let go of her arm as Bellatrix let out a scream of triumph.
"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled, "SIRIUS!" *Rowling, J.K.. Harry Potter: The Complete Collection (1-7) (pp. 2594-2596). Pottermore Publishing. Kindle Edition.
~*~ 28th June 1996 ~*~
Hermione's eyes snapped open as Harry's guttural screams continued in her brain, then she realized that it was not just in her brain. Harry was screaming in his sleep again. She threw the thin blanket that had sat on the chair where she sat off her body. She walked over to his bed and ran her hand over his face. "Shhh, I'm here," Hermione whispered.
Harry settled and turned into her hand. Hermione had just stepped back to curl up in the chair when Harry's face frowned in the dark.
"Hermione?" Harry's confused voice cracked in the dark, heavy with sleep.
"Go back to sleep," Hermione whispered.
Outside, thunder rumbled in the distance as Harry pushed himself up, turned his lamp on at his bedside, and stared at her. "What are you doing here?"
Hermione sighed. "I snuck in. After my parents went to bed at eight, I walked to the Golders Green underground stop. It was a 21-minute ride to Waterloo, then a quick changeover to the Southwestern Railway, the longest part of it all. Nearly an hour, then the stop is so close to your house." She frowned. "The downstairs window was open, and I could slip in easily. It really should be locked up, Harry."
Harry ran his hand over his face as he slid his glasses back onto his face. Lightning lit up his room, and she could briefly see his face light up before it became lost in the darkness again.
Hermione sighed as she stood up, "Budge over."
Harry moved over, and Hermione climbed in next to him. "Um… what are you doing?"
"I had one error in my plan," Hermione told him, "The Southwestern Railway doesn't run until five AM again. I hope you don't mind a sleepover tonight?"
"I can sleep on the floor," Harry suggested.
"No, I'm not kicking you out of your bed. We both need sleep," Hermione told him as she turned the lamp off.
Hermione settled in, and Harry slowly lay beside her, so their shoulders were touching. Both were quiet for a bit until Harry broke the silence. "Why did you come all this way, thinking you could just slip back out?" He whispered.
Hermione closed her eyes. "When I woke up in the hospital wing and asked what had happened," Hermione swallowed. "It was like they didn't care that you had just lost Sirius. We had just seen and fought against Death Eaters, barely escaping again with our lives." She took an unsteady breath. "Then Remus told me about the possession."
A sharp inhale beside her as Harry shifted next to her.
Hermione looked over at him in the dark. "Then we were all just sent home like nothing happened. You had to see him die in front of you, and it was like nothing happened. So, I had to check on you. It's only been a week."
Harry swallowed hard. "How are you feeling?"
Hermione rubbed her chest, "It hurts a little, but it's getting better every day. They just aren't sure what it was that hit me. It left a scar, but it could have been much worse if he hadn't been silenced. How are you doing?"
Hermione's heart clenched at the pain in his voice as he spoke. "It's all my fault, Hermione. If I had only listened to you…" Harry trailed off.
She reached for his hand and took it. "None of us could have known."
Harry was silent, then his voice broke through the air. "How could you forgive me? You got hurt, I got him killed…"
"From what Remus told me, Bellatrix killed Sirius and you didn't hurt me, that Death Eater did," Hermione assured him as she took his hand and put it on her chest so that he could feel her heart beating, "And I'm here, aren't I?"
She heard Harry take a shaky breath. "Did you take your potions tonight?"
"Before I left," She whispered, "I'm down to only four. It's progress."
The only sound in the room for a while was the rain hitting the windows until Harry whispered. "I have to kill him; that was the prophecy."
Hermione squeezed his hand as her heart clenched in her aching chest.
"He marked me as an equal and either of us must die at the hand of the other because neither of us can live while the other does," Harry whispered.
Hermione squeezed her eyes shut. "Then we make sure you do. We study and practice harder. You must be prepared."
Harry nodded, and Hermione turned onto her side, placing her arm over his chest. His heart thumped under her arm, and his presence calmed her mind. Her own must have been at least comforting to him because, a fleeting time later, Harry was snoring softly.
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Preview of Chapter 2 – Show Me the Meaning
His arms wrapped around her as he broke down, sobs wracking his body as he buried his face in her hair, clinging to her as if he let go, she too might disappear.
"I tried…" he gasped. "He made me watch… and I couldn't stop any of it."
Hermione crawled into his lap, rocking him gently, "I know, I'm here." She held him close to her chest as he cried, her tears soaking his hair while she kissed the side of his head. She continued to hold him until his sobs began to soften, her fingers threading through his messy hair. A log popped in front of them as Harry's breathing slowed, but he didn't let go of her. His arms were tight around her, grounding him.
Hermione shifted slightly as he looked up at her, their eyes meeting, raw and vulnerable. Their noses brushed against each other. Lips grazed, and then Hermione wasn't sure who started it, but they kissed.
It wasn't soft or slow. It was everything they'd buried: fear, desperation. Their mouths moved against each other, Harry gripping her hips tightly as she clung to his robes, guiding her to straddle him.
It was life rearing in the face of death.
When the need for air became too much, Harry tore his lips from hers and rested his forehead against hers, chests heaving.
"I'm sorry," He whispered, his voice hoarse.
Hermione ran her hand over the side of his head, her thumb brushing his jaw as she looked deep into his eyes. "I'm not," she whispered.