What Is Left When All Is Said and Done

Chapter 8

Hermione and Harry reappeared in front of The Burrow. Leaving him on the ground, she immediately ran to the door. As she approached, she heard wailing behind it. She banged on it anyways, yelling "Mr. Weasley! Mrs. Weasley! It's Hermione Granger!"

The door opened, but it was Ginny who appeared.

"Ginny!"

"Hermione, what's happened to...." She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as she saw what lay behind her. Her eyes widened in shock and she screamed, "Harry!" She ran past Hermione and flew to her ex-boyfriend.

"Harry!" she repeated, but there was still no response. She turned back to Hermione in fear. "What's wrong with him, Hermione? What's happened to his face? Where's Ron!"

"I can't explain it right now. Where's your mother and father? We need to get Harry stabilized!" Hermione left the two outside and ran through the open door into the house. The wailing got louder as she got closer to the kitchen. She followed the sound and found Mr. Weasley trying to comfort a bawling Mrs. Weasley.

"Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley! I need your help! Harry's outside, and I think he's dying!" This only increased the sobbing.

"Molly, please! We don't know what's happened yet. The clock may be wrong."

The clock. Hermione turned towards it, dreading what she would find. Eight hands still pointed towards "mortal peril". Ron's was the only one that pointed to "dead". It was almost too much for her, the confirmation of Ron's death. In the back of her head, she had still held on to the hope that when she returned to Godric's Hollow he would still be alive, but that hope was now considerably diminished.

"Hermione!" She felt Mr. Weasley's hand on her shoulder. "Hermione, what's happened? Where's Ron? What's happened to him?" The human contact broke through her reverie.

"I need you to come outside with me, Mr. Weasley. Please, we need to help Harry." She found she could not bring up the subject of Ron. The two of them left Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen and ran outside. Ginny had gathered Harry onto her lap and was rocking and crying over him.

"It's not supposed to end like this. It's not supposed to end like this--" she kept repeating. Her father stilled her with two hands on her shoulder.

"Ginny, I need you to let go of him," he said in a low, calm voice. Mutely, she nodded and let her father carry him inside the house. Ginny went to follow him, but Hermione stopped her before she crossed the threshold.

"Ginny, I need to go back and get Ron, but Harry--he was hit by his own Killing Curse."

"What!"

"There isn't time for the whole story now. Just tell your father what I told you. Hopefully he'll know what to do." Before she could leave, Ginny grabbed her hand.

"Hermione, is it true? About Ron? Is he really dead?" Hermione couldn't answer her.

"I have to go," she said before choking on a sob. The younger girl let go of her hand and she Apparated back to the Hollow.

Just as she feared, Ron was still lying there in the same position she had last seen him in. His eyes were still open and looking heavenward, his mouth agape.

"Oh Ron," she whimpered. She was afraid to touch him; his body would be cold by now, but she knew what she had to do. First she closed his eyes and his mouth, crying the whole while. She kissed him one last time on his forehead and then on his lips. "Goodbye, Ron. You know you were always my hero." She gathered him in her arms and made her second apparition to The Burrow.

This time Fleur and Mrs. Weasley were waiting for her on the doorstep. Mrs. Weasley took one look at her son in Hermione's hands and shrieked.

"NO! Not him, not my Ron!" She ran to Hermione and took him off her hands, assuming the same posture Ginny had taken before with Harry. "Nooooo...." she continued to keen. Fleur ran over and tried to comfort her as best she could. Since there was nothing left for Hermione to do, she walked back into the house in a trance. As she walked past the kitchen, Bill called out to her.

"Hermione! You have to tell me what happened! We don't dare do anything without knowing exactly what's wrong with him." He grabbed her and steered her into the kitchen. Mr. Weasley had cleared the kitchen table and laid Harry down on it. He was running his wand over him as if scanning to see where his injuries lied.

"I can't find anything wrong with him!" he exclaimed. "Hermione, what happened?"

"It...it all happened so fast." She slipped into the stool that Bill had guided her to and raised her hand to her head. "I was with Professor Snape, and then Ron and Harry came. Harry...he cast the Disarming Spell on him, and then when he wouldn't let go of me, he tried to kill him." By now she was sobbing again and she covered her face with both hands. "Snape let me go, but I jumped in the way and then...then Ron got in front of me. He died saving my life." When it seemed that she was not going to finish her story, Bill turned to his father.

"It sounds a lot like what happened to You-Know-Who when he tried to kill Harry as a baby. But it shouldn't have reflected off of Ron. I don't understand; what kind of magic is this?"

Mr. Weasley wiped his forehead with his hand. "I don't know, Bill...."

Just then the three of them turned to Ginny who had run into the room screaming, "You killed them! You killed my brother, and you've killed Harry!" She was able to throw her hands around Hermione's neck and begin to throttle her before the elder two Weasley men were able to get her off of her.

"Ginny, stop it!" The girl would not stop struggling and eventually Mr. Weasley had to cast a Calming Spell on his only daughter, which rendered her unconscious. "Hermione, I'm sorry...."

"No, Mr. Weasley. She's right. I shouldn't be here. It's all my fault this happened. I can't intrude on your hospitality any longer." She got up to leave, looking over at Harry one last time. He was still breathing, but barely. "Is Harry...is he going to be all right?"

"I don't know. I've got him under a Stasis Spell, but until we find out what exactly happened and why he's still alive, I'm afraid to do anything that might harm him further." She nodded.

"Will you...will you let me know if anything happens?"

"Where are you going to go?" asked Bill.

"I can't tell you, but I'm going to the only person I know who might be able to help him."

"Hermione, don't," warned Bill. "Don't do anything stupid now." Hermione erupted in a half-laugh.

"Stupid? All I've done so far is stupid things. I don't think I could do anymore stupid things." She left them and walked out the back door, unable to face Mrs. Weasley again.

Before she could Apparate again, she needed to do one last thing while she was fairly certain she was still on safe ground. She had never tried to use her Patronus to send a message before, but she knew it was how the members of the Order communicated with each other. Since she didn't currently have access to an owl and was too ashamed to go back in and ask to use Pigwidgeon, it was the only way she knew how to get in touch with anyone at Hogwarts.

Holding the wording of the message she wanted to send firmly in her head, she conjured a Patronus and instructed it to find Headmistress McGonagall. As it whisked away, she was only mildly surprised to find that it was no longer an otter and now resembled a small Jack Russell terrier. She was too exhausted to deal with this latest development though and began to focus on where she needed to go.

In what she hoped would be the last Apparition she would need to perform for the day, she disappeared from the Weasley's garden and reappeared instantly many miles away beside a dirty-looking river. She walked through the tall grass and over the bank to find street after street of similar looking brick houses that had seen better days. Undeterred, she made her way into the midst of them, scanning the street signs. Finally, she found the one she was looking for and--taking a deep breath--proceeded down the lane.

She stopped in front of the last house, which was just as shabby and run-down as its brethren. Expecting some kind of trap to spring if she tried to magically open the door and having no other resort, she started to pound on it with both hands.

"Professor! I know you're in there! Open up, sir!" Almost immediately she heard some scuffling behind the door. The scampering footsteps became louder as someone approached the door. At first she was surprised at the easy with which she been able to gain entrance, but that surprise because horror as she realized it was none other than Peter Pettigrew standing in the doorframe and not Professor Snape.

"Why hello, little girl," he said with a wicked smile and recognition in his eyes. "How nice of you to drop by." This unexpected encounter was the last straw for Hermione's nerves, and she finally succumbed to all the shock and stress from the horrible morning by fainting. The last thing her mind recorded before her head hit the ground and she fell unconscious was a flash of light coming from behind Wormtail concurrent with the sound of someone shouting.