A/N: Really sorry for the delay guys, I've been super busy today, but here it is! Enjoy (and also just to mention, thank you for your reads, votes and comments - I love you all so much for your support!)

*****

"RON!" I screamed again, my heart in my throat as I crawled over to the heap of bodies.

No, no, no. He couldn't be dead, not Ron, not my best friend who was mostly a pain in the arse but I did love deep down and couldn't imagine my life without him in it.

"Ah! Geroff!" Ron's muffled voice came from somewhere beneath Dumbledore's beard. "Help me out here, Hermione, I think I broke my foot!"

I sobbed in relief, trying not to shudder as I rolled the dead headmaster onto his back, freeing Ron who immediately sat up and clutched his ankle, hissing and cursing angrily as he did so.

"Oh, Ron!" I cried, flinging my arms up around his neck. "I thought- I thought-"

"Shhh, it's okay, 'mione," he soothed, rubbing my back with the hand that wasn't clutching his ankle, "It'll take more than dead bodies falling on my head to get rid of me."

At his words, my eyes swivelled to the lifeless eyes of the broken body behind him.

So, he had done it. Draco had taken another man's life, and destroyed his soul in the process.

"He's dead... he's killed him..." I kept repeating over and over again, shock making me tremble.

I was only faintly aware of the sound of explosions and screams coming from inside the castle, barely registering that there was a battle going on inside.

"Shit, Hermione, we need to get inside and find Harry," Ron gritted, pulling back to cup my face in his hand, "he could be in trouble."

As soon as he said that, we could hear Harry's voice bellow out from inside the castle.

"COME BACK HERE YOU MURDERING SCUMBAG! HOW DARE YOU KILL MY DUMBLEDORE!"

"On second thought..." Ron mumbled, his voice tailing away.

"But what if he kills Draco?!" I gasped, panic clutching at my heart as I leapt to my feet.

Ron glanced up, giving me a funny look. "And that's a bad thing... why? Look at what he just did!"

His hand swept over Dumbledore's dead body as though I needed the horrifying sight pointing out.

I wrung my hands through my hair, wheeling on the spot. This was all such a fucking mess and I was starting to think that I should have just listened to my parents and gone to Oxford after all.

I was in love with a boy who I couldn't remember being in love with because he thought it would be okay to Obliviate our entire relationship from my mind, and if that wasn't enough, he'd just murdered our headmaster because he was scared of abandoning his mother.

This didn't feel much like living my best life.

"Come 'ere," Ron sighed, holding out an arm. "Perhaps it's best we let Harry deal with it while we watch over Dumbledore. Harry wouldn't want us to leave him alone like this. Besides, Dad and the others should be in there by now. I'm sure they've got everything under control."

Another loud explosion ripped into the night, followed by ear splitting screams.

Not knowing what else to do, I plonked myself heavily back down next to Ron, averting my eyes away from Dumbledore, the sight of his dead body making me feel nauseous.

To pass the time, Ron got out the map and we watched as familiar names ran through the castle.

"Look, there's Bill," Ron pointed out. "Huh - he doesn't seem to be doing much."

But I took no notice, concentrating only instead on Draco's footsteps, which were oddly accompanied by Snape's, with Harry's not far behind.

"They're coming outside," I whispered furtively upon seeing Draco's name exit through the Entrance Hall's front doors.

Tearing my eyes away from the map, I looked up. And sure enough, there was Draco and Snape pelting down the stone steps with Harry appearing soon after, yelling at them to turn back and fight him.

My heart did something funny, and I had to stop myself from leaping up and racing after Draco.

"Bloody idiot," Ron sniffed. "I mean, just Malfoy, for sure. But with Snape there? He'll not hesitate to kill him."

"A teacher wouldn't do such a thing!" I reprimanded, scowling at Ron. "Not even Snape!"

"Wanna bet?"

"No, not really, Ronald," I scolded. "What I want is to not be sat here sitting next to our dead headmaster and watching as our best friend goes on a killing rampage!"

I looked back over to Draco whose face was full of fear as he fled, every now and then looking back over his shoulder as though he were afraid Harry might actually kill him.

I wondered where he was going - probably back to his mother. Would she be proud of her son for becoming a murderer? If she was any kind of mother then she would not. She would have wanted her son to have his soul intact.

I tried to ignore the dull ache of my heart as I watched him reach the outskirts and Disapparate out of sight.

"What the bloody hell is going on now?" Ron muttered disdainfully as it appeared Harry and Snape were having some kind of altercation.

"FACE ME, YOU COWARD!" Harry screamed in Snape's face, wildly waving his wand. "SECTUM-"

But Snape was too quick and parried his spell away.

"DON'T YOU CALL ME A COWARD! AND DON'T YOU DARE USE MY OWN SPELLS AGAINST ME!"

Ron gave a long low whistle. "Blimey... that's a turn out for the books."

One book in particular as it happened.

"And why is Harry trying to fight Snape?" I pondered, hope fluttering in my heart. "You don't think... you don't think he killed Dumbledore, do you?"

"Could be, 'mione," Ron hummed, rubbing his chin. "Could be..."

It was at that point when a phoenix landed on his head and started to sing.

*****

When Harry explained how Draco hadn't been able to go through with it, I was hit by a wave of mixed emotions.

First of all there was relief. Relief that I had been right all along - Draco was no killer. But then it was swiftly followed by fear. Did this mean Voldemort was going to punish him?

"He still let the Death Eaters in though," Ron reminded me darkly as he was laid up in what was becoming his usual spot in the hospital wing. "Not to mention the times he almost killed both Katie and me in his efforts."

I sighed heavily, glancing over to where poor Bill was lying in the next bed, his face mangled. Another victim of Draco's 'efforts'.

Still, if we were to look on the bright side, the werewolf attack prompted Tonks to confess to liking a bit of bestiality herself, and she and Lupin made a hasty exit, no doubt to practice making cute little pups of their own.

"I'm so sorry, Harry," I whispered after we bade Ron and the others goodnight and made our way back to the Gryffindor Tower. "I begged Malfoy not to go ahead with it. I even found a way to remove his Dark Mark but he refused to let me save him."

Harry shrugged heavily, shaking his head. "S'kay, Hermione. I don't blame you. Malfoy proved himself to be a coward more than once tonight. All we can do now is say goodbye to Dumbledore and finish the job he started."

I grabbed Harry's arm, halting us both in our tracks. "You mean...?"

"Tonight," he said gravely, retrieving what looked like a locket from his pocket, "Dumbledore and I made a wasted fucking journey to some cave where dead bodies tried to drag us into a lake only to discover that this Horcrux is a fucking fake!"

Wow. So literally nothing positive came out of this day whatsoever.

"What can I do?" I asked, my fingers trembling as I took it from him and inspected it. "Tell me."

Harry removed his glasses and gave them a wipe on his robes.

"We reform the Golden Trio and go hunt these Horcruxes together. Fuck school, there's no point without Dumbledore, anyway."

I nodded, keen to help Harry in any way I could. "Of course. So... where do we start?"

"Dunno." Harry shrugged.

"Oh. Do we have any clue as to what these Horcruxes are?"

Harry shrugged again. "Dumbledore had some ideas, but they could be anything, hidden anywhere."

Great, I thought, with a forced smile fixed upon my face.

Well, at least this would be one way to forget what I could only assume was a broken heart.

*****

Harry dumped Ginny.

"Meh- she's just a distraction I can't afford. I've got a world to save now."

I would have reprimanded him for his callousness, but there was a distraction of my own I needed to deal with.

Two of them, in fact.

"Mum... Dad..." I said as I entered my home for quite possibly the last time and looked up into the faces of the two people that had loved me unconditionally since birth.

"Yes, our little Hermonica?" My dad beamed proudly as he held out his arms for a hug whilst my mum stood behind him weeping and holding above her head a banner that read 'Welcome Home, Number One Daughter!'.

I swallowed, reaching into my pocket for my wand.

"Close your eyes... I have a surprise."

*****