AMOR VINCIT OMNIA; GRANGER

XXXIV.

( our fate )

"Where are you all going?" Milo asked as he noticed Hermione, Harry, Ron and some people he had never seen hurry through the corridors.

Hermione looked over to him, her eyes full of fear as she quickly averted her gaze. "We're going to the Ministry."

Milo looked at her in surprise, hurrying after her, "But why?"

"Something bad's about to happen because of your Dark Lord, Milo", responded Harry, looking rather pale and nervous.

Milo chose to ignore the last part and concentrated on the bad thing that's about to happen.

Through numerous questions Milo then found out that Harry had seen (he couldn't quite get that but accepted it nevertheless) his godfather being tortured by the Dark Lord and because Harry was Harry, he needed to save him; ASAP.

"To me this sounds like the Dark Lord just wants to lure you to the Ministry," Milo told the younger boy.

Hermione pointed in his direction with a sigh, "This is what I've been trying to tell him since he told us about the vision."

"It doesn't matter." Harry shook his head, his eyes moving around wildly as he looked at neither of them. "There is no one here from the order who we can tell about this and if we don't go, Sirius is dead!"

Milo couldn't refute that, so he just told the small group, "I'm going with you." No one seemed to have anything against that, the more they were, the higher their survival chance would be (was what they hoped).

The Bähr boy intertwined his fingers with Hermione's as they hurried along the halls, squeezing her hand from time to time, to show her that he was there and would be there to help her and protect her, even if he knew that she was perfectly capable of protecting herself.

Reaching the Ministry and their first moments there were blurry in Milo's memory.

So much had happened in such a short span of time, Milo was sure he was close to death more than ten times in total (up until now).

Now they had reached a dark room with high walls, only a magical archway being placed in the middle of the room. The group filled with people Milo didn't even know the name of was cornered by Death Eaters, each of them held in the tight grip of the Dark Lord's followers.

Milo knew most of the Death Eaters present, not by name but from seeing them around the manor, and as he looked over to Hermione, he saw her in the arms of his own mother who smiled cruelly at him and Harry. The two of them were the only ones not being held captive.

"Milo, Milo, Milo. I knew you were weak, but I never thought you would be this weak," his mother spoke, her voice carrying through the dark room. "But I am kind, you see, the Dark Lord said that if you kill the boy, you won't suffer any consequences."

"First let her go, then we can talk," Milo spat in her direction, pointing his wand at his mother.

The woman only tightened her grip on Hermione, making the girl grunt in pain.

"I said let her go!"

"And I told you to kill the boy," his mother responded calmly, her expression cold as she held her wand  to Hermione's throat. "And then what I will do with the girl."

Milo couldn't take it anymore and fired one spell after another at his mother, careful to not accidentally harm Hermione in the flurry of muttered spells.

This was what set everything off, spells were thrown around wildly by Potter and some of his friends who had managed to break free and as Milo dueled with Anna Bähr, he didn't even notice other people entering the room and the fighting of the others.

"I should've killed you with her, but of course your father hoped that you would never turn out like her," his mother told him as she fired spells back at him and deflected his. "He said you would be different, you knew your place and all those things. But I knew better, you are just as rotten as your sister and would only bring shame upon this family if you were to stay alive."

She finally managed to hit Milo with a Cruciatus curse, the boy immediately going to his knees and falling to the floor, where he twitched in pain, silent cries escaping his mouth.

He could see Hermione, not too far from him and for a second their eyes met, this second was enough to allow her opponent to strike but she was capable of reacting quickly enough and countered the spell. Her opponent flew through the air into a corner of the room and Hermione ran to Milo, kneeling down besides him and her lips were moving but he couldn't hear a word, his senses slowly subsiding to the pain.

"Silly girl, did you really think you could ever love someone like my son?" Anna asked as she made her way over to the couple laying on the floor.

Hermione didn't respond, she only moved in front of Milo who continued to twitch in pain, his mother not once having lifted the curse.

Someone hit Anna with a spell from the side and for a moment she stopped concentrating on the curse and her son, allowing Milo to spit out some words, his voice signed by pain and exhaustion.

"Hermione, I love you more than I love my own life. Please you have to go somewhere else, to one of those people from the Order. If you stay with me, she will kill you too, and I would never forgive myself for that."

He sat up and planted a kiss on her forehead. "I'll find you in our next life and it'll work out then and in every life after that."

Unsure, Hermione got up, she had noticed Anna coming closer to them and she was not ready to die, but neither did she want Milo to die. As she stood there, unsure of where to go and what to do, she was reminded of her dream.

Were they destined to forever be parted? Would Milo have to die for her in every life they lived? Could they never have a happy end and love each other until old age separated them?

Anna lifted her wand and as Hermione looked down at Milo and his pleading eyes, she did as she had done in many lives before this and fulfilled his last wish.

She went into safety as a bolt of green light lit up the space behind her.

Tears fell down her cheeks as she ran not only for her life but also Milo Bähr's, the boy who had died for his love, time and time again.