Hermione had been ready to die from the moment they'd been caught by Snatchers while hunting Horcruxes. She'd thought for sure she was going to die when Bellatrix had lunged at her with a knife and while she'd been afraid, she'd accepted it quickly. When she'd returned to Hogwarts with Draco, Harry, and Ron, she'd expected to die in the inevitable battle they were going to face. She had never really expected to live through the moment Death Eaters broke through the magic barrier around Hogwarts and apparated down around them.

She, Ron, Ginny, and Draco had been making their way on the outskirts of the castle grounds when the barrier finally did dissolve with a loud crack and a shockwave powerful enough to knock them all to their knees. All around them, Death Eaters apparated onto Hogwarts grounds and Hermione was so distracted and momentarily terrified that she didn't realise someone had grabbed her until a hand was around her throat.

Without thinking, she turned her wand backward and sent a spell at the attacker. When the hand dropped from her throat and Hermione was free, she twisted around to see a Death Eater writhing as his insides turned to tar. She couldn't remember ever learning the spell, but she didn't care to think on it as she quickly sent the same curse at two other Death Eaters that were approaching them. Beside her, Ron was duelling a Death Eater using nothing but debilitating spells. Hermione slit the Death Eater's throat before Ron could send another leg locking charm.

"You killed him!" Ron gasped as the Death Eater dropped before him.

"This is a War, Ron!" Hermione yelled, slitting another Death Eater's throat as a familiar green light narrowly missed her shoulder. "If you don't kill them, they'll kill you."

Ron looked like he wanted to argue with her, but Draco was shoving them both forward after Ginny before he could.

"You can fight after you've found a safe place to hide," he snarled, his lip curling back at Ron as his silver eyes glared at him. Ron's eyes widened and he raced up the hill after Ginny, continuing to cast mostly harmless spells at Death Eater. Beside her, Draco was sending perfectly aimed killing curses at every Death Eater close by.

The swarm of Death Eaters seemed to grow the closer to Voldemort they came. Hermione started to recognise those that didn't have their masks on, clearly confident enough they would win that they didn't care to hide anymore. If Hermione weren't so terrified of the possibility, she'd mock them for their pride.

Hermione grabbed Ginny's arm and pulled her to the ground as a green light shot overhead. A second later, Draco had grabbed both her and Ron and they were pulled away by the familiar sensation of apparation. Draco let go of Ron as soon as they landed on the far side of the quidditch pitch but tucked Hermione under his arm. Well hidden behind the quidditch stands and far from where any spells were being hurled angrily, Hermione found she could breathe for just a moment. When she looked up to make sure Ron and Ginny were okay, she paused at the sight of Ron glaring fiercely at her.

"What?" she demanded, glaring back at him.

"I know you're in love with a Death Eater, but you sure don't need to fight like one," he snapped. Draco's arm tightened around her shoulders and he joined Hermione in glaring at Ron.

"We would have been killed if I hadn't done what I did," Hermione replied. As it was, they were both covered in blood from the first time Hermione had slit one of the Death Eaters' throats, but she didn't particularly care. "We're fighting a war. If we want to win, we have to fight like it."

"Winners don't have to murder people in cold blood," Ron hissed. He took a step back and glanced at Ginny before saying, "Harry wouldn't have wanted us to murder them."

"Don't you dare tell me what Harry would or wouldn't want," Hermione snarled. She stepped away from Draco and jabbed her wand into Ron's chest as she said, "Harry died for this war and I'm not going to risk letting his death be in vain. If you want to hate me for how I choose to fight, then at least have the decency to wait until after we've won."

There was a tense silence as she and Ron glared at each other. Ginny very pointedly looked away from them and Hermione worried she agreed with her brother. It wouldn't change anything if she did, though. Hermione knew they couldn't win a war by playing nice and she would do whatever it took to defeat Voldemort.

"Just don't use the killing curse, okay?" Ron murmured, finally dropping her gaze and looking away. "I can forgive everything else if we win, but not that."

Hermione nodded. She didn't think her magic was even capable of forming the curse, but a year ago she would have never thought she'd be capable of killing someone without batting an eye. If this battle didn't end everything and the war continued on, she couldn't honestly say she would never consider the curse.

"I swear it," she said quietly. Ron looked at her shortly and nodded.

"Alright," he replied, "So what's your plan?"

* * * * *

Hermione hated the plan. The second she'd told them what she was thinking of doing, Draco had shot it down and not relented. Of course, he'd had a plan as well and Ron and Ginny were both much quicker to agree seeing as it did not involve one of them marching through a throng of Death Eaters. Unfortunately for Hermione, it did involve flying on a broom, something she was not adept at. Ron, Ginny, and Draco had all had no problem with it though which left Hermione to begrudgingly agree.

"This isn't safe," she muttered, staring at the broom Draco had summoned from their dormitory.

"It's safer than your plan was," he said. Hermione frowned and watched him mount his broom first. When he motioned for her to climb on in front of him, Hermione took the tiniest step forward. "Granger, getting on this broom is the safest thing you've done today."

"I don't trust brooms," she grumbled, taking another step forward as both Ginny and Ron mounted their own brooms. Draco just rolled his eyes and reached out to take her hand. He pulled her to the broom and held her waist as she slowly mounted the broom in front of him.

"You won't fall, Hermione," he promised, pressing a soft kiss to the back of her head before rising through the air.

Hermione clutched the broom in one hand and wrapped her other tightly around Draco's arm. It wasn't that she'd never ridden a broom before, she'd just seen too many people fall and get hurt. Not to mention the times Harry's broom had been jinxed and there had been nothing anyone could do about it.

"You sure this is going to work?" Ron asked Draco, hovering between them and Ginny. "I don't fancy taking a crucio to the chest from 30 meters in the air."

"No, but it's currently our best option," Draco reminded him.

Ron frowned but didn't argue back. They all glanced in the direction of the battle and at Draco's nod, they jetted off toward where they'd last spotted Voldemort.

Just like Draco had predicted, there was an army of Death Eaters around Voldemort. Even with the Notice Me Not charms Hermione had cast on all of them and the strong Disillusionment spells, Hermione worried they would be spotted. The spells only worked if no one was looking for them and with the way the Death Eaters were keeping a close watch on everything, Hermione worried they'd see through the spells.

They were nearly within range when they were spotted. One of the Death Eaters glanced right at them and a second later, he was speaking with his partner. Draco must have noticed as well because they shot across the field even faster and Ron and Ginny broke away from them.

The plan had been for Ron and Ginny to distract the Death Eaters if they were spotted so that Draco would be the one to cast the killing curse. Hermione was supposed to be Draco's defense and protect them both from any stray spells, but as all the Death Eaters turned their wands upward, Hermione knew they would have to scrap the plan.

Seconds before a barrage of spells and curses hit them, Hermione and Draco both cast a shield charm. It held firm, but shattered during the second onslaught of spells. Hermione clutched both the broom and Draco tighter then ever as they shot past the curses and soared up higher in the sky, twisting and zig zagging all over as they went. She squeezed her eyes shut and tucked her head to her shoulder as she tried not to be sick or panic.

"Hold on," Draco told her.

Hermione's eyes shot open as they hovered in place for a second. She was about to ask why, but before she could, Draco was pointing the broom down nose first and they were hurtling through the dark and back to the ground.

Hermione didn't need Draco to tell her to hold on. She was sure she was going to break either the broom handle or his arm as she clutched them so tight her hands turned white. Her eyes stayed open as she cast protego after protego before they could even see the Death Eaters.

Draco pulled up on the broom so abruptly Hermione almost toppled over. His arm was securely wrapped around her though and she stayed on. Below them, white Death Eater masks came into view before several jets of light were shot at them. Between protego charms, Hermione blindly shot curses intended to kill and wondered briefly if Ginny or Ron were still alright. She didn't have much time to think about it because before she could, Voldemort's red eyes were staring into hers and one of Draco's hands left the broom to cast the curse.

"Avada ked—"

The broom was yanked from the air so suddenly that Hermione barely had time to register the fact that they were falling. Behind her, Draco wrapped both of his arms around her and she heard him cast an unfamiliar spell before they hit the ground and Hermione's vision briefly went black.

She choked on her breath as the wind was knocked out of her and she struggled to sit up. Draco's arm tightened around her as she moved but as she turned to check and make sure he was okay, she froze. Staring down at them, Voldemort's red eyes gleamed and he began to laugh long and high in a way that chilled Hermione to her bones and begin to wish she was back on the broom.