Prologue
It might have been the Final Battle, but then again maybe it was just another battle, she honestly didn't know. She was tired, so tired. She blinked, the smoke making her eyes water. Where were they? She gripped her wand tightly and slipped from one place of cover to the next. She spotted a flash of bright orange hair, a vivid shock of color that stood out against the blackened ground of the battlefield. She moved quickly to the figure and rolled it over. Oh, Ron! She closed his sightless eyes and her tears fell on his pale, cold skin. She left him because the battlefield demanded it. One could not stay in one spot for long. It wasn't healthy. She moved back to the place that Ginny, Neville and Luna were using for cover.
"I'm sorry, Ginny," she gasped out when she made it back. Ginny shook her head, her mouth twisting in denial. She wouldn't cry right now. She couldn't fight if she couldn't see.
"Where's Harry?" Ginny's voice was anguished. Hermione shook her head.
"I don't knowโฆI don't know," she whispered.
Their small group fought valiantly, but eventually they were cornered. Ginny grimly cast hex after hex, her lips pressed into a thin line, her eyes blazing hate at the Death Eaters that surrounded them. Neville and Luna were courageous. She saw the fear in their eyes, but they fought on no matter the final outcome. The battlefield shifted around her suddenly, and she felt like she was watching it from an overhead position. She could see herself, fighting like the Gryffindor lioness she was: fierce and strong. A voice from everywhere and nowhere echoed around her.
"What evil has wrought
Must needs be undone;
The balance restored and victory won.
A sacrifice must be made
For the benefit of all of us;
Restore the soul to its proper place.
A hex had been cast, and Hermione watched herself stuck by the blinding white light. She could hear the echoes of battle around her, and she suddenly felt herself fallingโฆfalling.
....
"Hermione! I'm so sorry!" A voice was crying near her. "Please don't die. I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to do it!"
Hermione stirred, but when she moved her head agony burst forth. She cried out in pain, and there was a hiccupping sob and then the sound of feet running. Hermione couldn't open her eyes. It hurt too much. She felt herself drifting in a sea of black velvet darkness.
"Hermione? Love? Can you hear me?" There was a gentle voice calling her name, and cool gentle hands on her forehead. She knew this voice, didn't she? She tried to stir, to answer and whimpered in pain. "Shh, love, shh. It'll be all right."
"Hang on, princess, I've got you," said a deeper voice, and she felt herself being lifted higher and higher, but the pain in her head grew exponentially worse until she welcomed the numbing blackness.