One Lucky Winner

Chapter 73 ~ Harry

Day 7
9:35 PM

I poke my campfire with a stick. I used the pit and the firewood that was already there. The fire is currently huge, roaring, and scorching hot. It's perfect.

But Hermione hasn't come back yet. She's been gone for quite a while now, and I'm starting to get really worried.

I'm guessing it's been a half hour since she went to get the bag. I'm regretting letting her go alone. Why'd I care so much about this spot again? I should've gone with her. I'm so stupid for letting her go alone.

I sigh and shake my head, looking at the flames. I'm so tired, but I'm definitely not going to sleep without Hermione coming back.

I stare at a log that's enveloped in flames. If that log is gone and she isn't back yet, I'll go look for her.

I sigh for what seems like the billionth time this evening. I realize that I'm afraid. Not only am I afraid for Hermione, but I'm afraid for myself. I'm sitting here all alone, with a roaring fire going. Someone ought to see the smoke. I'm scared someone might come out of the dark forest and kill me. I have my wand to protect myself, but I only got a five, and mostly everyone that's left got twelves, or high scores. I'm afraid I might panic and do the wrong thing.

I suddenly hear a cannon. I audibly gasp. This is my worst fear. I crane my neck to look up at the sky.

It's her. The one person I care about. The one person who I hoped it wouldn't be. Hermione.

No. No, no, no, no, no.

Not Hermione. No. Anyone but Hermione. Anyone.

I stare at her until she disappears. I continue to look up at the blank sky. My mind is fuzzy and I can't think straight.

I slowly look down, and I can feel my eyes are wide. I focus on a spot in the snow. My mind is completely blank, and I can't think at all. I'm completely numb, and I don't feel a single thing.

Then the confusion comes.

The normal response to this situation would be to cry and be sad because the person I've known since I was 11 is gone. But I'm not. Not yet, at least. Instead, I'm shocked, and majorly, majorly, confused.

How did she die? That's the question I'm repeating in my mind. How, how, how, how, how?! Did she get caught by someone, and they killed her? Did someone else just jump out at her and stab her? How did she die, and who did it? I should've went with her!

I stand up, feeling dizzy. Not slightly wobbly, but so dizzy I almost fall in the fire and I have to clutch a tree for support. I suddenly have a headache. I can hear my heartbeat in my ears clearly.

I sink back down to the ground. I suddenly feel like I'm going to throw up. My world spins around me and I have to lean against the tree for support. Even though it's frigid cold, I'm covered in sweat suddenly. I wonder if I'm poisoned, because this isn't good. I don't understand why I'm feeling like this.

"No," I say out loud to myself. Hermione's gone. And it's all because of...me. I didn't go with her. I was lazy and I stayed here. If I went with her, we both would've been alive. No one would've taken this spot and we would've had the other bag. I was selfish and dumb.

I killed Ron...and Hermione. I killed them both. My two best friends are both dead because of me.

This thought makes me explode inside. I turn to my right and throw up in the bushes. When I'm done, I stand up, even more dizzy than I was before. I'm confused as to why I threw up, when I hardly ate anything today. I stumble away from the tree and the vomit and collapse by my bag and the fire, like I was before.