Forever

Author's Note: Well, first of all, this is my first completed Harry Potter fanfic.

AND, most importantly-

There are a few things to take into account:

This one-shot is set during their seventh year.

It completely ignores books six and seven.

The only thing I took into account from the two books is that Dumbledore is dead.

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"HARRY JAMES POTTER, GET UP!"

A boy with emerald-green eyes woke up, startled. "What the bloody hell...?"

A girl with curly brown hair giggled. "Ron's rubbed on you all the wrong ways. I've been trying to wake you up for the last ten minutes!"

Harry Potter grinned. "Sorry 'Mione, I didn't get much sleep last night." He frowned, remembering why, before yawning.

Hermione Jane Granger gazed at him, worried. "Did you have another dream?"

"Yeah..." he said, shuddering slightly.

"What happened this time?"

"I... I don't really want to talk about it..." He glanced out the window, not wanting to see her reaction.

Hermione's chocolate eyes widened in surprise and they revealed a tinge of hurt. Ever since he started having frequent nightmares during their sixth year, they had become closer, still remaining friends.

Since then, he shared every dream with her, to the last detail.

She had comforted him whenever they were too emotional, like the ones of his parents being murdered. Climbing onto his bed, she gently placed her hand on top of his. "Why...?" she whispered in an upset tone.

As he turned to face her, his emerald eyes met her chocolate ones. His eyes revealed sadness and...fear?

"Harry...?"

"I don't want to think about it!" he exclaimed, before burying his head onto her shoulder.

Hermione wrapped her arms around him, startled. She had never seen Harry like this before! Sure, he's spilled a few tears when talking about his nightmares, but never like this! "Shh, shh Harry. If you don't want to talk about it, then it's fine. But are you sure? You'd feel loads better." She couldn't help but ask one more time.

Shuddering, Harry looked up at her hesitantly. He stared at her as if she'd disappear right on the spot. Finally, he nodded his head.

Sighing in relief, she smoothly whispered, "Legilimens."

Relaxing his mind, he lets his best friend look through his mind, searching for his most recent nightmare.

Harry and Hermione were happily walking around the Hogwarts grounds, holding hands loosely.

"Well lookie here. If it isn't Smarty Pants and Scar Boy."

Turning around, they saw a blond seventeen-year-old boy sneering, his eyes playful.

"DRACO MALFOY!"

Ginny Weasley places her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowed.

Chuckling nervously, he said, "Oh, come on Ginny, I was just having a bit of fun."

Harry decided to help him out feeling a bit sorry for his now friend. "It's okay Ginny. I'm sure Serpent Boy didn't mean it."

"HARRY!"

Laughing nervously, Harry muttered a quick apology.

Giggling, Hermione asked, "So where are you two headed?"

"To Hogsmeade, aren't you going too?" the red head answered.

Hermione shook her head. "No, we're just going to walk around the grounds since it's emptier."

Draco chuckled, a naughty thought crossing his mind. "Alright then, we'll see you later." Passing closely to Harry, he whispered, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Rolling his eyes, Harry punched him good-naturedly. "Shut it, Malfoy."

"Fine, but don't blame me when there are too many little Potters for you to handle." With that, he and Ginny headed out.

Noticing Harry's slightly flushed cheeks, Hermione asked, "What did Draco say?"

"Nothing..." he murmured.

Raising an eyebrow, she decided to let it go, for now...

They walked around the lake in a content silence.

Hermione felt Harry push her out of his mind; his cheeks were slightly flushed. "What's wrong?" she asked curiously. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary in the dream for Harry to have reacted the way he did...

"Th-there's more," he replied, tentatively.

"Well obviously, if it made you react the way it did!" she exclaimed, exasperated. "Why did you push me out?" she demanded, her eyes fierce.

"I don't know if I'm ready to see it again..." he said in a small voice.

Her eyes adapted a gentle look. "Oh Harry, it'll be alright, I'll be right here with you."

He hesitated a minute longer, before nodding. "Okay."

"Legilimens," she said once again.

They walked around the lake and, on their third turn, they heard a rumbling noise.

"What's that?" Hermione asked, biting her lip, in order to prevent the fear in her voice from escaping.

They saw ripples forming on the lake.

Harry grabbed her hand in a firm grip. "I'm not sure..." He looked up, spotting movement in-

Suddenly, more than two dozen robbed figures appeared from the inside of the Forbidden Forest.

"Death Eaters..." Harry growled under his breath. He felt Hermione's grip tighten.

"How did they even manage to get in here?" she asked, annoyed and worried. No one should be able to get into Hogwarts uninvited.

This time, Hermione 'stepped out'. "Well at least it seems that all those times I've told you that it's impossible to Apparate into Hogwarts' grounds has finally gotten through that thick skull of yours and has made your dream more realistic."

Harry let out a short laugh. "Realistic is right." He paused. "Are you going to finish?"

She nodded. "Now, you know better than anyone that I never leave anything undone." She raised her wand and uttered, "Legilimens," one last time.

"I don't know, Hermione, but I think we have bigger problems than that!"

The curly haired girl could tell he's completely serious and afraid, if only by the fact that he's using her full name. He's right, of course. What mattered was that they're here now.

They sprung apart, as soon as the Death Eaters attacked.

Harry tried his best to push aside his worries for Hermione. He knew that she's more than capable of fending for herself. He focused on the half-dozen Death Eaters before him with trepidation.

Hermione's conflicting thoughts were similar to those of Harry's. She was worried about what the Death Eaters appearing at Hogwarts all of a sudden meant. If they could get in here then Voldemort was more than capable of Apparating inside.

Of all times to be to be analyzing the situation, this was not one of them. She knew this. Every second counted in life or death situations. It didn't help much, however, thinking about this while in her current position. Thankfully, she did well. Stunning, what seemed like, the last Death Eater, she turned to Harry. She failed, however, to see one more Death Eater.

When Harry had taken down the last minion of Voldemort on his side, he also turned to his best friend. His eyes widened in horror. Before he could even form the word Avada, a bright green light enveloped her instead, and she fell, dead before she hit the ground.

Hermione's vision was overwhelmed with green and black dots. She blinked repeatedly and, once they've mostly disappeared, she cleared her throat. "That was a little...intense."

Harry was once again slumped on her shoulder, his whole being trembling with sobs.

"Shh-shh Harry, everything's all right. It was only a dream." She did her best to sooth her best friend, drawing circles on his back with the palms of her hands.

"You, you were... I thought you had..." He trailed off, sitting up all of a sudden. "Hermione, what if-what if this means, now that Dumbledore's gone, Hogwarts isn't safe anymore? What if-?"

His best friend wiped his face of the tears he'd shed. As he voiced his worries, her fingers covered his mouth lightly. "You don't really believe Professor Dumbledore left us defenseless, do you? He loved us, his students, too much to have done what he did in vain."

He grabbed her wrist, gently, and kissed the palm of her hand. Burying his other hand into her thick mane, he pressed their foreheads together, and said in a serious tone, eyes shining in pain, "I always lose everyone I care for. My parents, Sirius, Dumbledore... I couldn't handle losing you too." Tears gathered in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall; he turned.

She wouldn't have that, though. Removing her hand from his, she took his chin and their gazes connected once again. "I know it hurts to lose the people you love Harry. Remember, though, everyone who has died, has died for a good cause. If it weren't for your parents, Sirius, and Dumbledore, you wouldn't be here right now. I never would have met you. Without you-"

"Without me you could have led a normal life!"

She scoffed. "A normal life? What is normal? Muggles? Witches and Wizards? Merlin forbid, it's definitely not Mudbloods!"

"Mione!"

"I'd probably still be the stuffy know-it-all bookworm, the girl who ran off to the girls' loo, crying her eyes out. Better yet, without you, Voldemort would be alive. Hogwarts would have become a school for Death Eaters-in-training! I would have grown up as a Muggle with odd occurrences happening all around me. Who knows what would have happened to those who opposed Voldemort during the war, like the Weasleys!" She held in her tears, wishing with every fiber of her being she could take away the pain that's slowly consuming her best friend.

"Then you can start-"

"You'll never be rid of me Harry James. I'm staying by your side. Forever."

Something around them suddenly shifted. Emerald met chocolate. They smiled at one another.

"Forever sounds long."

"Too long?"

"Never, it's perfect." Caressing her cheek, he planted a small kiss on her lips, pouring his emotions in one simple action. "Forever."

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Ahh... I'm SO happy I was finally able to finish this fic after so long! I hope everyone enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Let me know what you all think, please!

~*Eli