Hermione reappeared in the midst of a battlefield and the chaos almost petrified her to the spot.

Though they had been involved in a war since she was thirteen years old, and though she had played an enormous part in the Order's efforts, she was a virgin to true bloodshed, duels to the death and the anarchy of a real engagement. The thought briefly entered her mind that the Order must have decided just to attack when the news of Dumbledore's death and his body's humiliation at the school reached them. Then a barrage of curse lights shot her way and she had to let her body take over in order to evade them and wade through the fight.

Where was Voldemort? How did people even know what was going on or who to fight? Hermione dodged another curse, had to parry a spell that ricocheted her way from another duel, and turned a corner just to see Sirius fall to the ground, hit by multiple spells in the chest. She heard the cackle of Bellatrix Lestrange and her shrieked taunts in the air before Remus flew out of the air and tackled her to the ground.

Sirius…he's dead.

But there was no time to process that as Augustus Rookwood caught sight of her and cried, "Avada Kedavra, mudblood!" She cast a shield charm in time and darted away. She had no time for this, she had a job to do, she had to find the snake, she had to destroy the last horcrux…

They had to win, she could not fail, they had to win, she could not fail.

She saw a bright gleam throughout the chaos and yelled, "HARRY!" He was covered in burn marks and was bleeding from a cut on his shoulder. The sword of Gryffindor was strapped to his back and he was dueling Voldemort himself.

Bellatrix Lestrange saw her through the chaos and laughing, she shrieked, "Say goodnight, mudblood!"

There was a swirl of black fabric and suddenly Snape appeared in the crowd. Bellatrix had her wand raised and was in the middle of performing the Killing curse, when Snape grabbed her arm and shoved her to the side. He snarled in the cackling witch's face, "Leave her to me."

He stalked towards Hermione on the battlefield, his wand raised in her direction. Hermione raised her wand as well, settling into her dueling pose and ready to fight for her life, when she saw something dark slither through the battle.

"Harry! The snake!"

Harry turned to see Nagini, the great and terrible beast, coil up into a striking pose and then lunge towards him. Time seemed to slow down as Hermione watched the snake's powerful muscles tense and then moonlight glint off of its smooth scales as it reared towards Harry's head. Somewhere, in the chaos, she felt Snape's arm grip onto her shoulder and his presence at her side.

She didn't care, she was unable to tear her eyes away as Nagini's fangs scraped along Harry's face and then the snake's jaws snap again as it went for another strike. Harry reached an arm behind him and with a ragged cry he swung it to his side…

…and the snake's head fell and rolled to the ground. Its body twisted and coiled, shuddering in its death throes. Harry stood over it, the sword dripping with blood, angry open wounds on his forehead and a stunned look on his face.

There was an inhuman shriek as Voldemort saw his familiar die and his face contorted with rage as he seemed to almost glide towards Harry, his wand raised above his head.

Hermione then felt her body shake and she looked beside her to see Severus bellowing in her face. "Do it!"

Hermione raced forward as time finally seemed to catch up with her churning limbs and she threw herself in front of Harry. Voldemort looked incensed and hissed at her, "Stand aside, stupid girl-"

Hermione raised her wand and realized her arm was trembling. Severus was still yelling at her, "Do it! Hermione, now!" in the background roar.

She was a tool. She had only her purpose. She was not allowed her own feelings. Her own convictions. Her own morals. She had a job to do.

She felt her heart seize with hatred, with every poisonous feeling that had plagued her since the night her life had changed all those years ago. She looked at Voldemort's pale, hideous face and other faces flashed in her mind: Albus Dumbledore's, Snape's, her own.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

A green jet of light burst from the tip of her wand and soared through Voldemort. He had a smug look on his face, then one of confusion as the curse ripped through his now mortal body. He began to fall backwards, slowly.

Everything grew quiet. It was as if everyone in the battle watched in unison as Voldemort fell and crumpled to the ground. The most powerful wizard that had ruled England with an iron fist had just become another corpse on the battlefield. There was silence as confusion, panic and incomprehension gripped everyone present.

Then something broke. All hell broke loose around Hermione. Some Death Eaters lunged forward to try and kill her. Some fled. The Order members were screaming, unable to even form coherent words, just letting loose a primal cry of victory, of pain, of the ecstatic joy that this was finally over.

And only one person there knew why Hermione sunk to her knees, her wand abandoned somewhere in the grass, weeping uncontrollably.

She barely heard anything around her, locked in her own private hell until his voice finally began to penetrate the roaring in her ears. "Hermione…Hermione, let's go. It's done."

She looked up into his face, shattered, for the first time without any sense of direction or what to do next.

He held out his hand to her. "Our masters are dead. We're free."

She slowly nodded and then took his hand.

TWELVE YEARS LATER

"Harry! Harry!"

Harry looked up in alarm to see Ginny, his wife, run into the living room at her wits end. He put aside his copy of The Quibbler and got up just as she threw herself into his arms. "Gin, what is it?"

"Lily's missing. I've searched for her everywhere. She's gone."

Harry raced through the Burrow, calling out his daughter's name, and then ran outside. Soon Ron and the twins showed up and they searched the grounds everywhere for the little seven-year-old girl, but even after combing through all of Ottery St. Catchpole, they could not find her.

So much had changed since the war ended and Hermione Granger killed Voldemort. Harry had a few jagged scars that ran down the left side of his forehead which never disappeared completely, due to the nature of Nagini's venom. Remus and Tonks had both been slain on the battlefield. Molly Weasley had killed Bellatrix Letrange. Many of the Death Eaters fled the country and there was turmoil for years as the Ministry of Magic was upended. Kingsley Shacklebolt finally ended up taking over as Minister when Cornelius Fudge resigned.

The years had been difficult, but there was a sense of hope that had not been felt in a very long time. The moment it had finally felt like everything was going to be all right for Harry is when Hogwarts reopened, and every Order of the Phoenix member who had lost their lives were buried in a memorial on the school grounds. James had already begun his first year there, and Harry had been just as entranced as his son when they toured the school. It would have been wonderful to have had a normal childhood and gotten up to adventures in that magical castle.

The world was not perfect. There were still pureblood enthusiasts that tried to push their agenda through the Ministry. It still tore at Harry's heart when he visited the memorial every year and saw the names of his friends who hadn't made it: Remus, Sirius, his mother, his father, Tonks and her pink hair, even Hermione Granger whose body they never found…

But the world was healing and he had managed to let go of his traumas, his scars, and allow himself to enjoy the peaceful life of being a husband, a father and having a family of his own again. Something as awful and as evil as one of his children being in danger was not supposed to happen.

He sat at the dining room table all night, sick with grief and worry, and the helplessness that came with knowing he could not do anything.

When the clock struck midnight he heard the gate outside open. He realized he had fallen asleep and saw that Ginny had similarly dozed off beside him. He then heard the front door creak open and shook her. "Ginny."

"Mum? Dad?"

They leapt to their feet and rushed over to see Lily, with a little dirt on her face and scratches on her arms, but otherwise whole and sound run over to them and hug their legs. Ginny cried out in relief and hugged their daughter tightly to her.

"Oh my goodness, Lily are you all right? Where were you? What happened?" Harry stroked back his daughter's hair, unable to stop looking at her in case she vanished again.

"I was following a gnome in the forest and I fell down a hole. I couldn't get out. I was so scared. But, they found me."

Harry kissed her on the forehead, so happy to hear she was all right. Then he frowned and asked, "Who found you?"

Lily pointed out the open front door to the gate of their property. Harry squinted and saw two figures, cloaked in shadow, watching by the gate and illuminated only by the moon in the night sky.

The tall man with the long black hair obscuring most of his face turned on his heel and began to sweep away, looking like a shadow that was returning to the darkness. The woman watched a moment longer, her face at once familiar but changed by the years, and then she followed after the man, her brown bushy hair waving behind her.

They fell in step with each other and then, as if they had never been there, disappeared into the night.

END

A/N

Thank you very much for reading along, and I hope that you enjoyed