Baton Rouge

Prologue

Four Years Ago

There it was. The final battle they all had been waiting for.

Harry, Hermione and Ron had been traveling for months for this. To find the Horcruxes. To finally defeat Voldemort. They had been working towards this for such a long time and now the day had actually come.

Hermione sat up and tried to get an overview of what was happening. Something hard and heavy had hit her head and knocked her down. She felt dizzy and disoriented for a moment. Then she remembered what had just made her panic.

Nagini.

That huge, hideous snake she had met in Godric's Hollow once before. It had been here, right in front of them, and Hermione had wanted to rush to Ron's aid.

"Ron!"

She screamed his name, barely hearing herself. The din of battle drowned out any sound and the dust in the air blocked her sight. She turned on her own axis, tightly clutching her wand which threatened to slip from her sweaty hand.

Then she spotted him. The shadowy outlines of his body were oddly curved and Hermione gasped. She stumbled over the debris that had accumulated on the staircase usually giving students access to the upper floors, and fell to her knees in front of the red-haired wizard. There was a loud bang above them and she winced.

Where was the snake? Hermione couldn't see it anymore. She wasn't sure if she had been unconscious and therefore lost sight of it. Nor would she be able to hear it approaching if it was still lurking somewhere under the destroyed banister, because the shuddering air was filled with screams, the buzzing of curses, the sounds of battle.

But she didn't have time to worry about where the snake had gone.

Ron was bleeding profusely. His face was disfigured and his shirt was ripped. The snake had attacked him and succeeded.

"Oh Merlin, Ron!"

She sobbed and grabbed his wrist. Ron laid still and motionless and Hermione couldn't find his pulse.

This wasn't real. This was Ron. The boy who had been one of her two best friends for almost seven years now. And, of all people, the one she had fallen madly in love with.

They had kissed before they had said goodbye to Harry who had bravely followed Voldemort's call to the Forbidden Forest. It had taken them so long to finally find and admit that they loved each other, but now Ron was pale, covered in blood and limp.

Hermione groaned as she tried every healing spell she could think of. She didn't have any more Dittany - her bag had been lost somewhere hours ago - but Hermione knew it wouldn't have helped with those snake bites anyway. The poison had probably already spread throughout his whole body. If only she knew how long she had been passed out. How many precious minutes had she spent unconscious while Ron had been fighting for his life, mortally wounded?

"Rennervate! Anapneo! Episkey! Finite Incantatem!" she sobbed while keeping her wand pointed at him.

But the wounds didn't heal. Life flowed out of Ron's body. She could barely see his face anymore. He was covered in blood. She knew instinctively that it was hopeless, but she just couldn't accept it. She was Hermione Granger, wasn't she? Always a solution; always an idea in the tightest of situations.

"Reparo?" A last pitiful attempt that didn't make any sense at all.

In desperation, Hermione threw herself across Ron's body and held him tight. She cried softly as her final moments with him flashed before her eyes.