The Eye of the Storm

Hogsmeade Village

December 25^th, 2015

Hermione Granger wandered through the quaint little streets of Hogsmeade, pulling her Invisibility cloak tighter around her thin frame. Things certainly hadn't changed too much over the years; she smiled a little to herself, looking around at all the shops that she used to frequent with such enthusiasm during her childhood. The snow-covered roofs of the buildings glimmered in the twilight and beneath them the Christmas decorations twinkled merrily inside store windows. Looking inside, she could make out brightly lit Christmas trees in most houses she passed. She slowly made her way toward the path that led to Hogwarts, pausing before The Shrieking Shack as she always did, and muttered a silent prayer for Remus Lupin, who had spent his final hours shackled to a stake inside as he underwent his transformation, and slowly bled to death from several wounds made by a silver tipped dagger.

This had been her Christmas time routine for the past ten years. She would set out for Hogsmeade after a solitary Christmas lunch and make her way toward her old alma mater, paying annual homage to the school, which now stood in ruins. No one had restored it after the events of Christmas day, ten years ago. Some had considered the effort pointless. After all, what use was a school if there was no one left to teach? Others felt the place brought back memories that were too painful to relive. The rest simply had too much on their hands, what with fighting the Dark Lord and his minions and grieving for their lost children to rebuild a thousand years worth of history. Instead, they had chosen to erect a monument at the base of the school grounds, a simple towering structure of black stone in memory of Those that Died.

Still, that was ten long years ago, and after many battles were fought, the Dark Lord was finally defeated. The global magical communities had formed an alliance so strong, that even he was unable to tackle the sheer numbers advancing against him. Using ancient Celtic magics, they had managed to cleave his body from his soul, and trap him into two pieces of a primeval stone, in which he would be safely stored on two separate ends of the Earth. Each stone was placed under heavy and constant guard by descendants of the Celtic Druids themselves.

She started up the overgrown path that led to the school, pausing occasionally to mutter clearing spells to clear her way. As she approached the school, the gigantic monolith erected in memory of her fellow students came into view, glowing in the evening sun.

There was a tiny group of people surrounding the monument. She, invisible to the others, stood a distance apart and observed them. Ginny Weasley had certainly blossomed into quite the opposite of her gangly, unsure, teenage self. Now editor- in- chief of the Daily Prophet, she had an efficient, businesslike authority about her, coupled with a straight- backed elegance that almost overshadowed the air of melancholy that one only saw deep in her hazel eyes. One of the three surviving members of the Weasley Clan, she had carried the family name well, having held her own with admirable courage in the Final Battle.

Beside her stood Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan, each lost in their own private worlds. Every so often, they would lean slightly toward each other, as if drawing strength from the other's presence. Hermione could see Dean's lips moving in what appeared to be a Muggle prayer. On the other side of the stone were Lynette Darcy and a few of other people that Hermione recognised as juniors of hers from Ravenclaw. She moved silently toward the memorial, stepping carefully, so as to avoid making too much sound. It never snowed on that place; the area around the stone was eternally covered in soft emerald grass, with clumps of scarlet poppies sprouting here and there.

She paid her respects to those represented on the stone in her own way, silently mouthing the names of each person. This took up the better part of an hour, but she didn't look up until she was done. When the process was complete, she found herself alone once more. It was darker now, and the wind was blowing more fiercely than before. She continued her pilgrimage, approaching what was left of the Entrance Hall, trying as hard as she could to empty her mind of all the happy memories that suddenly invaded her. She paused for a moment, tears already snaking their way down her cheeks, and then continued to the Great Hall. Once inside, she quickly scanned the place for other people. Satisfied that she was alone, she removed the invisibility cloak; her warming spell was more than adequate to keep the cold out.

She sat down heavily on the floor at the base of where the Gryffindor table would have been, and made no attempt to hold back the tears as they began to flow down her face.

******

December 25^th, 2005

6:30 pm- Christmas Dinner

There was excitement in the air. For once, Hogwarts was full of students over the Christmas break, as Professor Dumbledore had thought it prudent for everyone to remain under his care as attacks on the outside world grew more frequent and random. The Death Eaters were growing in number and strength, and after their invasion of Azkaban; they were becoming increasingly fearless about who and where they attacked.

But those morbid realities seemed a million miles away from the Great Hall that afternoon. Ginny Weasley's eyes shone as she spoke to the Gryffindor prefect beside her, her Head Girl badge glinting in the candlelight. Presents had been exchanged, and many students were currently in the process of showing off their new things. A Christmas feast fit to feed an army was before them, the house elves had been slaving away for days to prepare massive turkeys (enhanced by Hagrid's 'special rearing methods'), breads, pies, puddings, and every other Christmas dish one could think of.

"If I could have your attention please," Dumbledore's deep voice carried over the crowd, causing almost immediate silence. "These are dark times; Voldemort's forces are growing stronger." At the mention of his name, more than a few students winced, "And we have to band together to protect our way of life. These past few months have seen the rise and fall of heroes, as well as displays of strength and valour from former students that have done Hogwarts proud. We must all learn from their examples, and put aside our petty differences in the name of the Greater Good. That being said, enjoy your meal".

The normal sounds of Christmas Dinner ensued; the chatter building its way up to its normal decibel level. Ginny looked up at Professor Dumbledore, who gave her a small smile before turning to speak to Professor McGonagall. She turned her attention back to her meal, and was about to take a bite of the succulent turkey when an almighty Explosion was heard from the direction of the Entrance Hall.

Many students screamed, some jumped up, some dove under their tables, and Dennis Creevey began to choke on his potatoes. All the teachers were instantly on alert, wands shot out from under their robes as they headed toward their respective house tables. She heard Professor Dumbledore's deep rumble, ordering the teachers and students to fall into their repeatedly practiced attack drills.

Black robes began streaming in from all directions. "There are too many of them," Ginny thought from the back of her mind as she struggled to regain her composure, knowing that her juniors would be looking to her to lead them. "It's just like practice," she tried to reassure herself, "nothing to worry about, follow your directions, and everything will be fine." But it wasn't to be. As quickly as they had entered, the Death Eaters began to fire curses at the teachers, hitting Professor Trelawney and Professor Sprout, both of whom keeled over immediately.

"Under the table!" screamed Ginny, reaching for her wand, "Seventh years, go!" At the sound of her voice, the student body suddenly came to life. Fifth and sixth years shoved the younger children under their tables. Grant Davies, the Ravenclaw head boy, started giving the order for the sixth and seventh years of his house and Slytherin to gather at the North End of the Hall, while Ginny started to lead the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors toward the South End. The frightened, but determined fifth years remained in their places to stand guard over the students hiding under the tables.

Ginny and the others ran toward their designated meeting point, occasionally dodging curses that were meant for the professors. She knew that the Death Eaters would take out the teachers first, and deal with the students later. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Madam Hooch take out two Death Eaters with one well-aimed curse. Almost in slow motion, she saw one black robe sneak up from behind Madam Hooch and shoot a burst of green light toward her back from point blank range. As she fell, hot tears sprung up in the corners of Ginny's eyelids, but she quickly brushed them away, knowing that she couldn't possibly fall apart now.

"Assume your positions!" yelled Davies, and immediately, the sixth and seventh years arranged themselves into their well practiced formation, with the sixth years on the inside of a tight circle, and the sevenths on the outside. All of their wands were at the ready.

At this point, the Death Eaters started to turn on the students. "Fire!" cried Davies and Ginny at the same time and suddenly there were curses flying everywhere. Ginny flung the first curse that popped into her head at the nearest Death Eater. It hit him square in the chest, and he flopped over rather ungracefully. She then turned and fired several into a crowd of black robed men at the far corner of the Hall. She could hear the anguished screams of people all around her, students, teachers and Death Eaters alike. She took a second to look around for the Professors. Professor Snape was nowhere to be found. Before she could look for the others, the girl beside her, Sarah Mann let out a shriek and fell to the ground in a tangled heap. Immediately after that, the entire Hufflepuff table exploded with a light so bright that Ginny saw spots for several seconds. She barely managed to acknowledge the bodies of the children lying strewn about, and as the realisation hit; she registered several people screaming around her. Realising that she was one of them, she caught herself and turned to her group, yelling at them to run toward their house tables and protect as many of the others as they could.

The older students, now shaking with fear and anger ran toward their respective houses, and with renewed ferocity, resumed their defence. One by one Ginny saw them fall, their curses no match for the Unforgivables the Death Eaters were flinging out with almost careless ease. Flashes of green and white light were everywhere, and she could see the numbers of the other group of Sixth and Seventh years dwindle like hers had. She moved with a sense of desperation beyond anything she had ever experienced, felling three more Death Eaters with her various hexes. But the students were no real match for the monsters clad in black. Even as their numbers reduced considerably, their losses were far less than the students. The Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables, along with their inexperienced protectors exploded like Hufflepuff's had, and she heard Davies' cry of grief as he witnessed the fall of many of his housemates from across the room. The remaining students scattered, running in all directions, which resulted in many more being stopped in their tracks. Ginny and Davies' attempts to restore order went largely unheeded, as sheer panic overrode most of the children's better judgements.

Just as Ginny thought things were reaching close to their inevitable end, the main entrance to the hall burst open. "What now?" she thought to herself wearily and even the Death Eaters turned toward the door, their curses momentarily forgotten. Some of the students took the opportunity to fire off more hexes, but they too turned to look at the Scarlet robes that were currently filling the Hall.

Ginny thought she would faint from relief. As the hooded entrants started to fire curse upon curse at the startled Death Eaters, their hoods fell back to reveal now famous Order of the Phoenix. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron, Fred, George and Bill Weasley, Sirius Black, Mundungus Fletcher, Arabella Figg, Alastor Moody, Allison Krauss, and many more that Ginny didn't recognise suddenly seemed to fill the room with a renewed hope. She and the others went back to holding up their end, until she felt herself being picked up by a pair of strong arms. She fought at first, but when she realised it was Bill, she let him take her through a long passage to a place outside the school, along with several others from her house. There they found several other scarlet robed people, moving around the students, checking for injuries. She crouched over her friends, her Head Girl training taking over as she turned to see to their wounds.

******

Hermione arrived by Floo, and tumbled into a fireplace she didn't recognise. Once the soot cleared, she looked questioningly at Harry, Ron and Sirius, who were already there, ashen faced. "It's happening", said Harry simply.

"Move out," barked Sirius, and the four ran out of the room, and headed straight toward the Great Hall. They were joined on the way by the rest of the Order, and they paused outside the main door of the Hall, awaiting Moody's command. Hermione tried to ignore the sounds of torment and the cries of the children within. She glanced at Harry and Ron. Harry was pale faced, but determined. Ron was shaking, understandably, since his sister was in there.

"Go!" Moody cried, and they all yelled "Dehisco Limenere'- firing identical Opening curses at the main door, which burst apart at the hinges. They charged in, the younger members beginning to fire instantly, while the older members sought out Dumbledore and surveyed the damages.

Hermione, Ron and Harry ran toward the Gryffindor table. Ron looked visibly relieved that Ginny was still standing, shaking but apparently unharmed. He gestured to Bill, who nodded and moved with Fred, George and Allison toward the table to lead Ginny and the others to safety. Harry had already taken down several black robes; Ron and Hermione weren't far behind. They fired at will, bringing down wave upon wave of the Death Eaters. But there seemed to be a never- ending supply. Every time one lot fell, another seemed to just appear in their place, never tiring, never fearing for their lives. Hermione ducked behind a portion of the overturned Ravenclaw table, trying valiantly to push down the intense nausea she felt upon seeing so many children's unmoving bodies beside her. She looked around to find that Harry and Ron were now standing back to back, firing curses at every black robe in sight. She could see Ron's left arm hanging limply at his side; probably a victim of bone- breaking curse of some sort. Hermione looked at Harry with some amount of fear; she had never seen him so furious. His usually soft green eyes were blazing; his _expression was that of pure fury as he fought to protect the only home he'd ever known.

She spotted Sirius and Moody take on a large group of black robes at the head table, and then fought a fresh wave of queasiness as she saw the broken, bleeding bodies of so many professors strewn about. She looked about for more surviving students, and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Bill escorting the last of them out of the Hall, into the relative safety of the area beyond. But, as the last group neared the door, she noticed two Death Eaters from across the Hall take aim at the group. Springing up, she yelled at Bill to get his attention, and then focused on taking out the Death Eater closer to the children. The other, however, fired a well-aimed burst of bright green light at a little blonde girl. Bill, seeing it, sprung into action, violently pushing the girl out of its path. Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Bill shove the girl to safety, stumble, and fall right in the path of the curse. Unable to scream, her mouth open in a soundless 'O', she saw Bill fall over and stop breathing. She ran toward him as fast as she could, almost getting hit by a leg- locking curse in the process. By the time she reached him, the students had left the hall safely, and she fell to her knees beside him, whispering his name. She looked up to see that his brothers had noticed what happened. George had been taking care of the children outside, and Fred was near the head table. Both their faces paled almost beyond recognition, their bright copper hair standing out in stark contrast to their complexions. George, who was closer, ran over to his brother's body, lines of tears falling down his face. Fred called to Ron, pointing wildly at Bill's body, while trying to help a mortally wounded Arabella Figg into a more comfortable position.

The twin's reactions to their brother's death were nothing in comparison to Ron's. He let out a cry so pained that it sounded almost like a wounded animal. Fresh tears sprung to Hermione's eyes as she looked at the naked grief on her best friend's face. He ran toward Bill blindly, and Harry had to cover him lest he too get injured. He knelt before his older brother, took his face in his unbroken hand, and Hermione watched as his _expression turned from one of pure pain, to pure anger. He leapt up and ran toward the nearest Death Eater he could find and, wand forgotten began repeatedly punching him in the face.

"He was my brother you bastards!" he kept crying, as he kept punching the now unconscious Death Eater. Hermione and Harry let him continue like that for a couple of minutes, as they made sure no harm came to him or George as he pulled Bill's body out of the Hall. They finally turned to Ron and pulled him off the comatose Death Eater and dragged him out of the Hall as well.

"Let me go," he struggled against them with an astonishing amount of strength. "They killed him!"

Hermione nodded to Harry, who gave Ron one last squeeze on the shoulder, and turned back toward the Hall. Ron clung to Hermione like a child, sobbing heavily into her robes. She held him for what seemed like a long while, and when George reappeared, wiping the tears off his face, she called out to him to take Ron away as well.

"I have to go back in now Ron," she told him gently, "We are going to finish this, one way or another. I promise." Ron didn't even look up as George led him down the passage. Hermione returned to the hall and surveyed the situation.

Mundungus Fletcher was lying in the middle of the Hall, either dead, or massively injured. Fred was tending to him, but the resignation was written all over his face. Harry was on one end of the Head Table, and Dumbledore was at the other end, both of them seemed to be staring at each other intently. Sirius and Moody were in the centre of the Hall, taking out one Death Eater after another. Hermione could see them tiring however, and wondered how long they would all be able to keep this up.

Snape was in the far corner protecting an injured leg, desperately fending off six or seven Death Eaters as they slowly backed him into a wall. She leapt out of her spot and rushed to his aid, despite the blinding pain in her left eye from a thankfully short lived Conjunctivitis curse, she managed to incapacitate two of his attackers.

 "Are you all right Miss Granger?" he asked her. "I will be", she replied grimly, "as soon as this ends". He nodded, and took off after another group that suddenly made its appearance from the far corner of the room. Hermione turned to look at Dumbledore and Harry, who were still staring at each other as intently as before. Understanding suddenly dawned on her, as she realised what they were about to do.

"Sirius, Moody, Fred!" she called urgently. "It's starting! Let's move!"

All the scarlet robed soldiers turned to look at the Boy who Lived and his Mentor, as they stared at each other unblinking, unmoving. A magic so powerful that everyone in the room felt it deep within their bones, seemed to emanate from them. As they ran for the passage leading out of the castle, Hermione saw the pair encompass themselves in a white bubble so bright, it hurt her eyes.

The bubble grew, slowly but surely, spreading outwards, destroying everything in its path. Tables, chairs, bodies- living and dead, they all silently evaporated as the bubble touched them, and Hermione and the others had just enough time to reach the first aid camp outside the grounds before the crashes began. Even though the bubble wasn't powerful enough to completely destroy a millennia- old structure, it caused more than enough damage. Hermione watched with tears in her eyes as the mighty Gryffindor tower collapsed upon itself, and large parts of the school crumbled like they were made of dry mud.

 Too much in shock to say anything, Hermione fell to her knees, hot tears streaming down her face. She watched silently as the mighty castle fell before her, taking any and all that were inside- alive or dead. Her vision blurred, and she felt the ground come closer, but all she could think about was all the people that died defending those fallen walls. Then it struck her. Harry was inside.

She half rose to her feet. "Harry!" she yelled, and started toward the castle. She felt herself being pulled back and a pair of strong arms held her fast from behind. "No!" she struggled against her captor. "Harry's still inside! I have to get him out!" But the arms were too strong.

"Shhh, Hermione," whispered Sirius. "It's too late now, you knew this would happen. You knew that Harry and Dumbledore would do anything to prevent Hogwarts from falling into Voldemort's hands" he held her tight, and she struggles against him grew weaker.

"But Voldemort isn't even there," she sobbed. "They shouldn't have done it".

"I know Hermione," said Sirius, his voice cracking, "but you know he would have come after the Death Eaters had secured the castle. This was his final conquest; he would not have stayed away. We had to make sure that didn't happen. This was a backup plan; we were prepared. You were prepared for this".

"No no no no," she sobbed against his chest, "This wasn't supposed to happen. Harry wasn't supposed to go like this. He was supposed to defeat Voldemort", she looked up at Sirius' face, tears showing no signs of stopping, "How am I going to live without him?"

Now Sirius began crying in earnest too. "I don't know Hermione, I don't know. I couldn't protect him either." And they held each other for a long time afterward, neither remembering fully the journey back to Headquarters.

******

After the fall of Hogwarts, the global magical communities banded together, and the forces of Light finally defeated the Dark, and Voldemort was cast into his prison. That same day, while the rest of the world was rejoicing, Hermione packed her meagre possessions into a trunk, owled Ron, telling him that she needed to leave for a while, asked him not to contact her; and left the wizarding world behind. The only reminders she took with her were her wand, the necklace Ron had saved up to buy her for her eighteenth birthday, and the emerald ring Harry had given her when they had left Hogwarts.

Ron ignored her plea to stay out of touch, and he habitually mailed her once in a fortnight. She had every single one of his letters, unopened, and stacked in a growing pile in the corner of her wardrobe. Ginny and the others mailed her occasionally too, but after years of not writing back, their letters had stopped. Draco was the only other person to mail her, that is, if a birthday card a year counted.

Hermione had begun a new life; one without magic. Having settled down in a small village near Bath, she took up a job as a librarian, spending her days quietly in the calm confines of her workspace. She rarely went out, and had no friends. The only real trip she made anymore was her yearly pilgrimage to Hogwarts, and that too, under the protection of the invisibility cloak she had purchased shortly after she had left Hogwarts. This was her life now, calm, peaceful, boring and anonymous. It almost helped her forget Harry and the horrors of her past entirely. Almost.

******

The Great Hall of Hogwarts- The present

Hermione sat up, wiped the tears still staining her face, and pulled out a handkerchief to dab at her swollen, red eyes. She sat there a little while longer; her eyes closed waiting for her sobs to subside. After a few minutes, satisfied that she had regained her self-composure again, she pulled out her wand and muttered "Lumos" and began to look about for her things.

"Here, Hermione," a quiet voice resonated behind her, "you almost forgot this".

Hermione whirled around, her wildly thumping heart beating at her throat, her wand raised at the person behind her. The light was still emanating from the end of the wand, and it illuminated a face for a split second before she dropped it with a scream. The face was so familiar, so wholly burned into her memory that she could still see it- every line, every curve, every strand of hair perfectly, even without the light. The wand clattered on the ground, still pointing at the man before her, casting his features in an eerie, almost ethereal glow.

Standing before her, holding her Invisibility Cloak in his outstretched hand was Harry Potter.

******