Re-post: Always and Forever by neiva

1. A Midnight Hello

Purple in colour it shielded Harry, Ron and Hermione from the killing curse that was launched towards them. When it hit the ball it used its negative energy to ripple through the room. It left them unharmed but from the moment it reached Voldemort, his wand turned to ash and he screamed in agony. With every ripple he weakened until he was finally blown to pieces. In that instant Harry had an immense amount of pain erupt from his forehead and he fell to his knees with a light departing from him before everything faded to black.

Harry tried not to remember what had happened. He tried to just put it in the past, but the thing was he knew he was lying to himself when he said he could.

They had lost so many that day. Many students that had not gotten to grow up or adults go home to their families.

When he awoke Hermione was by his side but she was holding hands with Ron. His heart dropped and then went back up as he lay in the hospital remembering the events that had just occured. There were many others who were there also but thank Merlin everyone was too busy to notice he had woken up.

He was happy to hear that Draco's father had been one of the Death Eaters caught and was sent to Azkaban for life. Not may escaped but it was at least nice to know that the Order was able to get someone for the blame.

Living with the Durslys had been different this year for Dumbledore had explained to them the situation with Harry and how he had defeated Voldemort. This lead only Aunt Petunia to be nicer to him seeing as she was the only one who really understood the whole concept.

All in all Harry couldn't wait to turn seventeen. He had all his clothes packed and ready to leave for Grimmauld Place, which had been cleaned by Dobby.

The only thing that seemed to be wrong was the fact that Harry had not heard from Hermione or Ron.

Sitting up properly he was about to make his way to Hedwig's cage when he heard a distinct popping sound. It was the familier sound that signaled that someone had just Apperated.

He looked over to the clock and saw it was midnight. What person would Apperate here at midnight... The kind that was up to no good.

Harry hastily began searching for his wand but realized he slept with it under his pillow and it had rolled off into one of the cracks.

He heard the obvious squeak of the first stair and decided wandless magic would be more appropriate. Uncle Vernon could be heard stirring as the doorknob began to twist. Harry's heart began to race and he was about to throw a hex when a familier head of brown hair poked inside

"Hermione," whispered Harry.

"Hello, happy birthday Harry." she said, closing the door behind her and giving him a hug. When she did he felt like he never wanted to let go of her but he knew better.

She's your best friend, he thought.

When she retreated he got a glimpse of her with the moon light. Her hair was brown as ever though not as bushy. She appeared to be wearing muggle clothes instead of her usual wizard robes which brought out her figure.

She looks beautiful, Harry caught himself thinking and tried to shift into friend mode. Then he realised that there were dried tears painted in her cheeks.

"Hermione what are you doing here, are you alright?" He asked curiously.

"Well, I wanted to come and wish you a happy birthday. I knew you were going to want to leave as soon as you turn seventeen... so I decided that I would get here before you left," she said uneasily, clearly avoiding the other question.

"Oh so you've come to take me then?" Harry questioned hopefully.

"Yes... Ron would have come too but... well, I think it should be just me," Hermione said sitting on the edge of Harry's bed.