The Centaur Clan

Ten- Dare to Dream

Hermione couldn't sleep with the nightmares.

She had them every night, and without Ron- or Harry, whom she'd gotten used to sleeping beside- she was all alone, and had no one to help her fight the dreams away.

Hermione had had several fights and duels with people here and there, and she had won them all. But there were some very close calls, and Hermione always had vivid nightmares about the people that had died at her hand.

This one was about a Death Eater who had had short dark hair, a wonderfully handsome face, and fear in his eyes.

She was in Hogwarts, in the Great Hall. It was during the war, and everyone was fighting- fists were flying, colorful blasts of spells were shooting everywhere. She couldn't find Harry. She couldn't find Ron.

A blast of bright green narrowly passed by her ear, and she turned in answer to the fire. It was a Death Eater, his mask still covering his face.

"Stupefy!"

She shot a burst of red light towards him, and he jumped to the side, landing on a broken chunk that had come from the ceiling. He hit his arm roughly on the floor, and groaned in pain before sending a Crucio directly at him. It hit her, and there was pain, but he was weak and so it wasn't as terrible as it could've been.

The spell dropped, and she fired something his way. She wasn't quite sure what it was, but it hit him full in the face and blasted his mask off. He screamed in pain and clutched his face, tripping over his cloak and falling onto the floor.

When he took his hands away, his face was slick red with blood.

Hermione's eyes grew as wide as saucers as she took in what she had done. Blood was pouring from his nose, his mouth. His ears had blood coming from them as well, and as he yelled out in pain, tears poured from his eyes. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?"

She saw a gash on his face, and she remembers Harry's description of Draco, when he had used Sectumsempra on him. His description matched what she was seeing on the boy's face.

She had used Sectumsempra, when in reality she didn't want to have to kill anyone.

Panicking, Hermione rushes forward to the boy on the ground. "Get away from me!" He shrieks at her. "I don't need your help- get away!"

Hermione feels tears prick in her eyes and she shakes her head. "You don't understand. I didn't mean to cause you this much pain- I don't want to kill anyone. Please, if you let me help you, you can live!"

He shakes his head, pulling away from her. "NO! Get away from me!"

She places a Body-Bind spell on him, and then heaves him to his feet. Dodging spells, she drags him through the rubble and commotion, and into a separate hall. She removes the spell, and he lies on the floor, gasping and wheezing. He was dying, she knew it.

"It's alright, you're just losing a lot of blood. If I get you a blood replenishing potion, and wrap you up-"

He wipes his face, and for some reason, he seemed less repulsed by her now. "I don't want you to help me. Why did you pull me out of that battle? You could have died. You should have died." He adds bitterly.

The blood on his face had dripped down and started to soak his shirt, but there was another dark stain, right above where his belt should be, and Hermione knew she had slashed him there too. "I don't want anyone to die at my hand. I'm supposed to be the good side- we don't kill unless we have to, and I didn't have to kill you."

"You haven't yet." He grunts, and coughs. Blood spurts from his mouth, and he spits it out onto the marble castle floor.

"No. I'm going to get you a blood replenishing potion." She gets to her feet and starts to hurry down the hallway.