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The sounds of battle rang all around her. Her heart was racing, beads of sweat ran down her face, her arms, her back. Her head had been throbbing for hours, ever since she had landed in that lake after dropping 10 feet or more from the back of a flying dragon, made worse by the smoke inhalation from the Room of Requirement fire, but she ignored it. Her legs burned from exhaustion; her chest heaved as she panted, desperate for air. Her curls whipped around her as she dodged and weaved, avoiding Bellatrix’s deadly spells alongside Ginny and Luna.
“Not my daughter – you bitch!” Molly Weasley’s voice rang out behind her. A jet of green light had just missed Ginny by millimeters. Hermione glanced at the matriarch of the family she loved as dearly as her own and saw her shedding her cloak as she rushed towards them. “Out of my way!” She shouted at the three of them.
The brunette looked around the rest of the hall as Molly and Bellatrix’s duel grew more intense. She paused for just a moment, trying to catch her breath. Everywhere she looked Death Eaters were falling. She saw Slughorn, McGonagall, and Kingsley dueling Voldemort. She saw Hagrid throw one against the wall, and George stun another. Percy and Arthur were dueling another Death Eater nearby, but she didn’t see him anywhere, not a single sign of him. ‘Where is he?’ She saw Lucius and Narcissa running through the hall, shouting for their son, neither of them fighting.
She had heard Hagrid’s cries earlier asking where Harry’s body was, but she hadn’t been able to check. She wondered briefly if she should now, but that thought was gone as quickly as it had formed because Molly had just shot a curse at Bellatrix that flew underneath her outstretched arm and hit her square in the chest. She froze as she watched, and Bellatrix’s body seemed to shrink as it hit the floor with a thud.
A roar of fury was all the warning she got before she saw Voldemort’s three challengers thrown backwards and he turned to face Molly. She moved to rush forward and help Professor McGonagall up but froze when she heard a voice she would recognize anywhere shout, “PROTEGO!” and felt the shield charm expand between Molly and Voldemort.
A gasp of shock escaped her when Harry pulled off his invisibility cloak, and was echoed around the room, but then tears of happiness were running down her face as she let out a shaky, relieved laugh. He was alive. She didn’t know how, and she didn’t care, he was alive and that’s what mattered. Harry and Voldemort began to circle each other. As Voldemort taunted him, Hermione saw how Harry didn’t flinch or display any sign of anger, resentment, or fear. He was calm, and collected, his voice never shook as he explained Dumbledore’s final plan.
Hermione’s eyes were fastened to the circling wizards in front of her, but she felt a presence behind her. She felt the warmth of a person close by, and she stiffened until she caught a whiff of the person’s cologne mixed with singed hair and soot. She knew who it was standing slightly behind her to her left without looking and she felt herself relax slightly.
Harry’s voice was the only sound in the hall. Everyone else seemed to be holding their breath. “You still don’t get it, Riddle, do you? Possessing the wand isn’t enough! Holding it, using it, doesn’t make it really yours. Didn’t you listen to Ollivander? The wand chooses the wizard… The Elder wand recognized a new master before Dumbledore died, someone who never even laid a hand on it. The new master removed the wand from Dumbledore against his will, never realizing exactly what he had done, or that the world’s most dangerous wand had given him its allegiance…”
Hermione’s heartrate ratcheted up several notches and her breathing quickened again. ‘No. He can’t be saying what I think he’s saying. Can he?’ But then Harry continued.
“The true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy.”
Hermione reached blindly beside her, and her hand clasped a familiar one. She tore her eyes from Harry and Voldemort as the snake-faced wizard sneered that he could attend to Draco after he had killed Harry. Brown eyes met grey, and she saw her own shock and fear reflected in his face.
“But you’re too late,” said Harry. “You’ve missed your chance. I got there first. I overpowered Draco weeks ago. I took this wand from him.”
Hermione turned back to face Harry again, her eyes falling on the hawthorn wand that he twitched in his hand.
“So, it all comes down to this, doesn’t it?” whispered Harry. “Does the wand in your hand know its last master was Disarmed? Because if it does…I am the true master of the Elder Wand.”
The sun broke over the horizon and obscured both dueler’s faces for a moment. Hermione squeezed Draco’s hand and felt him squeeze back as they heard both the killing curse and the disarming spell shouted at the same time. Suddenly a bang echoed throughout the Great Hall, and golden flames exploded from where the spells met in the middle of the circle. Hermione watched with everyone else as the Elder Wand spun through the air towards Harry, who deftly caught it.
After the body hit the stone floor there was a moment of ringing silence, and then everywhere around them the air was filled with screams and cheers of happiness. Hermione felt a tug on her hand, and she turned, tears of joy spilling down her face, to see Draco’s own face alight with relief and delight. Before she had a chance to do anything more than smile at him, his free hand was cupped around the back of her head, fingers tangled in her hair, and his lips crashed against hers. She threw the arm still gripping her wand around his neck in return and pulled him closer, lifting up on her toes. Nothing could bring her down right now, or so she thought.
It was several minutes, or maybe only seconds, before she realized what she was doing. She slowly broke the kiss, lowering herself from the balls of her feet, so she stood flat on the ground, her arm slid from around his neck to fall at her side, his hand was still curled in her hair. Her eyes were still closed, their forehead’s pressed together, and she could feel every eye in the Great Hall on them. The silence was deafening, it pressed on her, stifling her. With trepidation, and a shaky exhale, she opened her eyes, and saw the realization of what he’d just done in his eyes. “Bollocks.” Draco whispered. His hand finally untangled itself from her hair and dropped to her shoulder.
“It was bound to happen sooner or later.” She breathed. With a small smile she turned to face the rest of the survivors in the hall, Draco’s hand dropping from her shoulder as she did. She kept a tight hold of the one still clasped in hers though. “What?” She called as she stared around at them all.
“Umm…Hermione…” Ginny’s voice sounded unsure. “You do realize who that is, right?”
Hermione scoffed. “Yes, I’m perfectly aware, thank you. I’ve not taken leave of my senses.” Hermione looked to Harry, who looked shocked but not angry. “Weren’t we just celebrating?” She asked as she glanced at the various people around the hall.
Her eyes swept over a furious and red-faced Ron, a stunned Molly and Arthur, an expressionless though slightly wide-eyed Narcissa, and a frowning Lucius, until they landed on Professor McGonagall, standing tall, hands clasped in front of her, a small knowing smile on her face. “Yes, Miss Granger. I believe we were.”
With Draco’s hand still fastened in hers, Hermione turned to look at him, ignoring the murmuring of the crowd gathered in the hall around them. She saw him looking back at her softly. “He did it, Granger. Potter actually did it.”
“He did.” She nodded in agreement. “You’re free.”
The grin that broke onto Draco’s face was blinding. “So are you. And now,” he paused and kissed her knuckles gently, “I can do that without fearing who might see.” He cupped her cheek with his free hand, before pressing his lips against hers. “Or that.” He laid a tender kiss against her forehead, “Or that.” Draco looked down at her, smiling again. “We don’t have to hide anymore. We can go wherever we want, do whatever we want, and no one can stop us.” Hermione grinned and nodded. “I love you, Hermione.”
Hermione chuckled. “I love hearing you say that. I love you too, Draco.” With another press of her lips against his Hermione gently took her hand out of his and wrapped both arms around Draco’s neck, while his enclosed around her waist. Breaking the kiss and resting her head against his chest, Hermione closed her eyes and listened to the steady beating of his heart, feeling him place his cheek on the top of her head. The details could be dealt with later. Right now, all she wanted was to be near the man she loved. Everything else could wait. There would be trials later, evidence that needed to be given, testimony that needed to be shared. Difficult times lay ahead, but in this moment, she knew that everything would be alright eventually. As long as they had each other they could face anything the world threw at them.
They were free.