Eighth [Harmione]

1. Accomplishments and Distractions

Disclaimer: Again this is not mine this belongs to lorein829. This is originally posted in portkey.org which is now down so I'm putting it here for you guys to enjoy.

   ❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾  

  PART I: The End of the Beginning  

The snake was dead.

Harry lowered his trembling hand, holding his wand, down to his side, and met the gazes of his two best friends with serious intensity. Hermione's eyes were wide and brown, knowing the gravity of the situation, looking unflinchingly at Harry, the same way that she had always looked unflinchingly at life. Ron glanced at him too, a shadow of pain lurking behind his blue eyes.

The snake was dead.

Harry did not want to look at the charred corpse, now barely recognizable for what it had once been. The snake - Nagini - something hissed inside him unwillingly - had been more than just a snake. It had taken the best efforts of all three of them to finally vanquish it. If Harry had had any doubts about the authenticity of Dumbledore's speculation, they were laid to rest, as the snake emitted red smoke and a chilling high-pitched scream rose on the air with the vapor and dissipated into nothingness.

The snake was a horcrux. And now it was dead. Not just any horcrux...but the fifth horcrux. The next to last horcrux. Harry's mind seemed caught in a loop, cycling stupidly back and forth through the obvious.

One horcrux left to destroy, and then the only piece of soul remaining to Voldemort would reside inside that sick, twisted body itself.

And the three of them stood there motionless, staring at the dead reptile. Ron cradled his arm to his side; it was broken from where he had fallen, stumbling back from an unexpected spring by Nagini. Harry looked lost, bewildered, overwhelmed, as if he'd just realized that he was that much closer to accomplishing what he'd set out to accomplish...and what that meant would come next.

Hermione just watched Harry. Watched him like he was an extension of herself. She felt her soul cry out the echo of Lily Potter's dying scream...Not Harry! Not Harry! Take me instead!

The blackened, twisted remains of the snake lay there, unmoving. Dead.

Harry finally seemed to snap back to life, with a shuddering intake of breath. His eyes darted quickly from Hermione to Ron. "We should go," was all he said.

"Yeah," Ron muttered, a little breathlessly. Hermione watched Harry. His face was so tired, worn, older than his years. When had he started looking so tired?

She glanced back at the snake, a little unwillingly. It was dead. She pursed her lips tightly together, and looked at Harry as she nodded, a quick, jerky, solitary nod.

Harry turned, as if he would leave, but then turned back, his eyes pulled with inexorable force toward the corpse of the snake. Something hissed within him again, and he wondered if it was the knowledge of Parseltongue or Voldemort's past forays into his head that was causing this.

He held his wand up again.

"We should - we should get rid of it...in case - so he - he won't..." He shook his head, swearing under his breath. This had happened each time they had destroyed a horcrux. It fatigued him, made him weak and dizzy and nauseated. None of them could figure out why. Hermione's best guess was that it occurred because of the connection that he had to Voldemort. Harry had then pointed out that Voldemort himself did not appear to be aware that they had been systematically destroying the horcruxes; if they were connected, how would she explain that? She had no answer.