A bright light fills the graveyard and the ground shakes slightly. In the distance, Hermione can hear a nearby clock strike twelve times before the light finally fades. The new day brings with it chaos and confusion. She listens to shouting, trying to place familiar voices, and hears triumphant shouts of ‘Voldemort’s dead’ from several Order members. In a way, she thinks that it’s fitting that he was destroyed at midnight because it’s a literal dawning of a new day for this world.
It’s too dark to see more than the area right around her, but she keeps searching the darkness for Harry and Ron. She tries to call their names but only ends up coughing up more blood. She was hit by several different curses while fighting that have her body hurting more than it ever has before. When her knees give out, she falls to the ground, gasping at the pain in her side.
Suddenly, she hears their voices through the commotion. They’re calling her name, looking for her, and she can’t muster the strength to reply. Harry sounds tired and Ron sounds worried, but they both sound strong. She’s more relieved that she thought possible. Her boys are alive. They’ve survived, and they’re going to have futures that she just knows are going to be happy and everything they deserve.
She shudders as a wave of pain shoots through her body from her feet to her shoulders, but she’s not scared. How can she be when she knows that Harry and Ron are okay? Now that she knows they’ve made it, she can let go. She listens to them calling her name as she rests her cheek against the damp grass and slowly closes her eyes.
It’s finally time to rest.
End
Midnight
Story Notes:
9/22/06