August | Hermione Granger x OFC

Chapter 124

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"Harry Potter is dead. He was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself while you lay down your lives for him. We bring you his body as proof that your hero is gone. The battle is won. You have lost half of your fighters. My Death Eaters outnumber you, and the Boy Who Lived is finished. There must be no more war. Anyone who continues to resist, man, woman, or child, will be slaughtered, as will every member of their family. 

"Come out of the castle now, kneel before me, and you shall be spared. Your parents and children, your brothers and sisters, will live and be forgiven, and you will join me in the new world we shall build together."

The Great Hall went deadly silent at Voldemort's magically magnified voice. No one spoke. No one moved. Not for a good few moments. All they could do was exchange looks of disbelief, of terror, of despair.

Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, surely couldn't be dead.

There was only one way to find out.

"We'll still fight," Willow declared quietly, helping both Olivia and Luna to their feet from where they'd been sitting around Robyn's body. "Even if Harry is- if he's–"

"We'll fight," Olivia finished, a dark look on her usually bright face. She threw an arm round Willow's shoulder to limp down the teachers' platform's steps. The dead had been moved up there to make room for the sheer number of wounded taking up the floor of the Great Hall, and Willow, Olivia, and Luna had all followed to stay with Robyn and Dylan. On Dylan's other side was Fred Weasley. George and Mrs Weasley were reluctantly getting up to follow after the crowd leaving the Great Hall led by McGonagall.

Willow and Olivia only made it as far as the steps before Nadir was blocking their way. Despite his heartbreak, he'd been hurrying around the Great Hall doing his duty as a Healer. "You're hurt," he said to Olivia. "You and I will stay up here with- with Robyn and Dylan. I'm not letting you anywhere near those Death Eaters out there."

"But–"

"No." Nadir was frightening, almost, as he glared down at Olivia. But his expression softened quickly, and his voice broke as he continued, "I've- I've already lost them, I won't lose you, too."

And that was enough. Olivia and Nadir stayed in the Great Hall while Willow, Luna, and the others went outside. On the way to the courtyard, Willow held her mother's hand, her other arm linked with Luna's. But she almost tripped over herself in surprise when she caught sight of a ghostly pale Hermione Granger, fresh tear tracks down her cheeks. She hadn't shown herself in the Great Hall. Not only was she limping, but there was a red, irritated scratch on her face, and one of her fists was heavily bruised, seeming to match the black eye Ron was sporting. It was as if she'd been in some sort of struggle or fight.

"Hermione–"

But Hermione walked right past Willow without even looking at her, either not hearing her or choosing to ignore her. Despite that, Ginny broke away from Luna and hurried after her fellow Gryffindor. The two of them joined Ron but Hermione did not look at him either as he whispered something to her, pleading look on his face. She seemed to be in her own world, totally lost in her head.

Willow didn't need to ask why. And even if she did she wouldn't have time to, anyway, because at the front of the crowd, Professor McGonagall was screaming, "NO!"

It was a terrible thing, and Bellatrix Lestrange, black and blue in the face, laughed, glorying in McGonagall's despair. If Willow wasn't busy being upset by the sight of a dead Harry Potter, she might have wondered if Hermione hadn't just punched Ron, but Lestrange, too.