little miss perfect ; hermoine granger

chapter 39

"HERMOINE!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, as Draco dragged me away from everything, everyone, that I loved. I struggled against his grip, yelling frantically, as Draco kept throwing his hand over my mouth. During our struggle, the invisibility cloak fell off of the both of us, and I took that opportunity.

Hermoine's Pov:

The second I saw the death eaters bring Ana and Draco in like that, I knew that they weren't going to make it out. Even though the professors were quick to come, and they all had their wands, if anyone tried anything, the death eaters wouldn't hesitate to kill the both of them.

I tried to move closer, as George grabbed my wrist, and said "It's not going to help." Fred was on my other side, and Ron stood in front of me. Like they were trying to protect me or something. But I wasn't the one who needed to be protected right now. Could they not see that?

"Let them go. There doesn't need to be any bloodshed." Dumbledore said, but obviously, that wasn't going to work. These people are insane, they won't care if someone tells them that it's wrong to do the things they do. That's why they do it. I could feel a tear fall down my cheek already, as Ana let out "...please. I don't wanna die." Professor Mcgonagall yelled something at us, and Harry yelled back, but I couldn't hear what they were saying, and I didn't care.

I was looking at Ana, and she looked like she knew what was going to happen. She was sobbing, being held up only by the woman behind her. Draco was hit with the Cruciatus curse next to her, and fell to the ground, yelling in pain. That only made Ana's sobs louder, and my tears fall harder. 

The Order ran into the room, and all immediately held their wands up. They gave me a little hope, but I still knew in the back of my mind that they weren't going to make a difference. I let my hope get the best of me, though, as I looked at all of them there. I mean, there was two of them, and about 20 of us. In a normal situation, they wouldn't stand a chance.

"They're just children. Don't harm them. If you need someone to harm, do it to us. They're innocent." "No. They deserve it." The death eater grabbing Ana replied to Dumbledore, as she smirked at us all.

"AVADA KEDAVRA" As I heard that spell being yelled, it seemed like everything was in slow motion. The green light flashed brightly, taking up the whole room, as I screamed "NO!" I knew it wouldn't do anything, the spell was already cast, there was nothing I could do, but it just came out.

I watched her body fall to the floor, and Draco's only a second later. There was a moment of long silence after it happened, all of us just staring at the horror that laid in front of us. The death eaters both stepped away from the bodies, and put their hands in the air mockingly. The professors ran over, and restrained them, as I finally came to my senses and ran over to Ana.

I fell to my knees next to her, and didn't know what to do. Sobs came out of my mouth, as my hands hovered over her her cheeks, and when I touched them, like I'd done so many times, it felt so terrible. She was...cold. And then I realized that her eyes were still open. They were staring up at the ceiling, and I tried to imagine that she was still alive, looking up at the beautiful decorations. But that wasn't real. It was never going to be real.

I put my hand over her eyes and closed them gently, my hands were shaking, and I felt like I couldn't breathe. That I was going to die. I felt someone come up behind me, and try to hug me, and I immediately yelled trying to push them off of me, but then I realized it was Molly. We made eye contact with each other for a second, and my sobs didn't stop, as I fell into her embrace.

She held me, facing me away from Ana's body, almost trying to shield me from it. And that was a good thing. It felt like the world was ending. Like nothing was ever going to be good again. I felt her stroke my hair, and for the first time, she didn't say anything. We just sat there together, and I could tell she was crying too.

I heard other peoples sobs too, but I couldn't tell who they belonged to, and honestly, I didn't care. Right now, it felt like I was the only person in the world. Like I was all alone. Molly let me go, and gave me a kiss on the forehead, as she walked away, probably to her kids, or her husband. I sat on the floor, just looking at the body, until I cupped her cheeks again, for the last time, and whispered

"I love you."

I lingered there like that for a second, waiting for a response that I knew wasn't going to come, as I sat back on my heels. I heard people talking all around me, and felt some people coming up to say goodbye or something, but I said nothing. I couldn't.

Then, I heard something that was impossible. "HERMOINE!" The yell screamed, and it sounded exactly like...no. She was right in front of me, and she was dead. She wasn't coming back, and this was my mind messing with me. I heard another scream, that sounded like her again, as I stood up, and started to walk towards it.

I knew that it wasn't her, that it was a hallucination from my grief or something, but I had to make sure. As I left the grand hall, I could feel someone reaching to me, grabbing my wrist, saying something, but I couldn't hear them. All I could hear was the yelling.

The screams got louder, as I headed to the main entrance, and stood in the doorway, as I saw something that once again, seemed impossible. It was Ana. And Draco. Ana had just kicked Draco in his groin, and turned to face the castle, as we made eye contact. "...Ana?" I said quietly, my face contorting back into a sob, as she smiled at me, with tears in her eyes "...Hermoine. I'm so sorry."

Even though this was probably a hallucination, and that she wasn't real, I wanted so badly to believe that it was. I walked over to her slowly, down the steps, and she did the same to me, picking up her pace as we got closer, and she collided into me. It felt...real. Too real. I stayed in the embrace for a long time, because if I pulled away, I was afraid that I'd never be in it again.

I held onto her as I finally braced myself and pulled away, looking at her, taking it all in. She looked exactly like she had before, and I put my hands on her cheeks tentatively, as to make sure that I could. "You just...how are you-" I tried to get out, as she pulled me back into the embrace, and we both fell onto our knees, holding on desperately to each other. 

"Are you real?" I asked her quietly, tears rolling down my face, and heard her say shakily "Yeah, yeah, I am." 

And even though it made no sense, that it couldn't be real, her response was good enough for me.