More Than Magic (Hermione x Male reader)

Year 7 - Okay Tell Us

"The Elder Wand belongs to the wizard who killed its last owner. Ollivander was quite explicit about that. You killed Dumbledore, Severus. While you live, the Elder Wand cannot be truly mine," Voldemort said.

Snape stares at Voldemort, and then his eyes shift to Nagini, still circling. 

"My Lord -- " Snape said but he is cut off.

"You have been a good and faithful servant, Severus," Voldemort said. 

Voldemort raises the wand, and points it at Snape's throat. 

"But only I can live forever..." Voldemort said.

Voldemort sweeps his arm away, turning the wand on Nagini. 

"Kill," Voldemort said. 

Snape's eyes shift... meet the snake's. The snake strikes. Harry's scream is swallowed by Snape's own. Voldemort runs a finger along the wand, eyeing it with wonder, transfixed, then turns away.

"Nagini! Come!" Voldemort said.

he sweeps from the room, toward the lake's quivering darkness, the giant snake slithering after. Harry rushes forward, into the strange, wavering light, then stops in horror, watching Snape's blood run like syrup over the weathered boards toward him. Ron bumps past, heading in the direction Voldemort took. Hermione pauses by Harry. I look back at the castle as Harry kneels by Snape. He lays his fingers upon the bloody wound at his neck, but it's no use. Snape's eyes shift and, briefly, look deep into Harry's. And then he begins to...Cry.

"Take them..." Snape said.

Harry looks confused, hesitant.

"Take them!" Snape said. 

Snape's face shudders softly and his tears transform, from clear water to silvery blue. Harry reacts to the colour. He's seen it before... Suddenly Snape grabs his collar and pulls him close.

"Please," Snape said. 

Snape holds Harry captive briefly, then drops back to the floor. Harry blinks, shaken.

"Give me something! Quickly! A flask! Anything," Harry said

Instantly, I conjure a flask from thin air. Hands trembling, Harry presses it to Snape's ashen cheek, letting the fluid flow within.

"They are the same..." Snape said. 

Harry searches Snape's face, trying to decipher his words. Snape stares at Harry in wonder, lost in his eyes, and then his pupils dilate, his voice trailing off.

"You have your mother's eyes..." Snape said.

Snape's face goes slack. Harry shivers. Ron reappears.

"He's gone. The snake too," Ron said.

Just then the sound of thunder, like a gathering storm, engulfs them. The joists of the shack groan, as if in agony. The entire room begins to tremble. Ron yanks aboard from the window and we all peer out. As in the Enchanted Ceiling before, a face appears in the dark clouds above. And then... 

"You have fought valiantly... but in vain. I do not wish this. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a terrible waste. I, therefore, command my forces to retreat. In their absence, dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured, Harry Potter, I speak now directly to you. On this night you have allowed your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. There is no greater dishonour. Join me in the Forbidden Forest and confront your fate. Should you do so I give my word that no other life will be lost on this night. You have one hour. If, at the end of that time, you have not given yourself up, then I shall punish every last man, woman and child who tries to conceal you from me," Voldemorts vice sai ringing out in our heads. 

"Never! Do you hear me? NEVER!" Ron said. 

Hermione places her hand on the nape of my neck, and glances at Harry. He gazes down at Snape's still body one last time, then at the flask in his hand.

We get back to a deserted castle. The flagstone was stained with blood, and strewn with broken wands.

 "Where is everyone?" Hermien said.

"Inside I guess," I said. 

Ron walks ahead, toward the Great Hall. Puts his hands on the doors... pushes them open. poised on the threshold, looking in. Triage. The House tables have been pushed to the walls. The injured stand in groups, arms slung over one another, waiting to be treated by Madam Pomfrey. Filch's arm gushes blood. Flitwick's face is laced with gashes.  

Harry stands in the doorway, taking it all in, as if some invisible force prevents him from going further, his face a mask as he views the dead laid out in the middle of the hall, among them Remus and Tonks, their blood-stained fingers clumsily intertwined. A heartbreaking sob draws his gaze to George, who kneels over a familiar body, tears dripping from his eyes. Beside Harry, he hears a gasp from Hermione but he doesn't turn, his eyes instead lost on Ginny, puffy-eyed and pale, standing alongside a distraught Arthur and Molly. Ron having left Harry in the entryway to join his family. As he drapes his arm over George, drawing his brother into a limp embrace, the lifeless body comes into view, Fred. 

My hands were shaking it was not the fact that we had lost friends it was that it took me this long to realise that we could lose friends. Hermione placed a hand on mine and my shacking slowly stabilises before I turn to her she places her other hand on my cheek and I hugged her. 

Hermione glances back at Harry briefly before we join the Weasleys. Seeing us, Ginny begins to cry, burying her face in Hermione's shoulder. Gently, slowly, Hermione strokes Ginny's copper hair, over and over, murmuring something softly as I hug her from the side. For a moment, Harry stands, hung in the doorway.

The castle is eerily quiet as Harry walks, the portraits he passes empty. As he reaches the end of the corridor, he turns and stops. In the shadows of an alcove, Hermione murmurs to me, our faces close. For a long moment, Harry simply watches us. Then, as if sensing his presence, Hermione turns. Instantly, she runs to him. Ron sees and follows. 

"Where've you been?" Hermione said as I got up. 

"We thought you'd gone to the forest, we thought you might be --" Ron said not finishing. 

"I'm going there now," Harry said.

"WHAT," I said.

"Are you mad! No!" Ron said.

"It's... meant to be," Harry said.

"The hell it is," I said.

"You can't just give yourself up to him," Ron said.

"What is it, Harry? What is it you know?" Hermione said.

Ron studies her face and sees that I am also looking at Harry as if he has something to tell us then looks back to Harry. 

"There's a reason I can... hear them -- the Horcruxes," Harry said.

"Okay tell us," Hermione said.