Forever

By: SilverLunarStar

Disclaimer: I do not officially own Harry Potter. I am the proud owner of all seven books and a set of the first five movies on DVD. That's all. This idea, while, choppy, plain, and simple belongs to me. It has belonged to me ever since I first started it, which was back in… 2004? 2005? somewhere along those lines…

Author's Note: Well, first of all, this is my first completed Harry Potter fanfic.

AND, most importantly-

There are a few things to take into account:

This one-shot is set during their seventh year.

It completely ignores books six and seven.

The only thing I took into account from the two books is that Dumbledore is dead.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER, GET UP!"

A boy with emerald green eyes wakes up, startled. "What the bloody hell…?"

A girl with curly brown hair giggles. "Ron's rubbed on you all the wrong ways. I've been trying to wake you up for the last ten minutes!"

Harry Potter grins. "Sorry 'Mione, I didn't get much sleep last night." He frowns, remembering why, before yawning.

Hermione Granger gazes at him worriedly. "Did you have another dream?"

"Yeah…" he says, shuddering slightly.

"What was it about this time?"

"I… I don't really want to talk about it…" He glances out the window, not wanting to see her reaction.

Hermione's chocolate eyes widen in surprise, a tinge of hurt in them. Ever since he started having frequent nightmares during their sixth year, they had become closer, still remaining friends.

Since then, he shares every dream with her, to ever last detail.

She has comforted him whenever they are too emotional, like the ones of his parents being murdered. Climbing onto his bed, she gently places her hand on top of his. "Why…?" she whispers in an upset tone.

As he turns to face her, his emerald eyes meet her chocolate ones. His eyes reveal sadness and… fear?

"Harry…?"

I don't want to think about it!" he exclaims, before burying his head onto her shoulder.

Hermione wraps her arms around him, startled. She has never seen Harry like this before! Sure, he's spilled a few tears when talking about his nightmares, but never like this! "Shh, shh Harry. If you don't want to talk about it, then it's fine. But are you sure? You'd feel loads better." She can't help but ask one more time.

Shuddering, Harry looks up at her hesitantly. He stares at her as if she'll disappear right on the spot. Finally, he nods his head.

Sighing in relief, she smoothly whispers, "Legilimens."

Relaxing his mind, he lets his best friend look through his mind, searching for his most recent nightmare.

Harry and Hermione were happily walking around the Hogwarts grounds, holding hands loosely.

"Well lookie here. If it isn't Smarty Pants and Scar Boy."

Turning around, they see a blonde seventeen year old boy sneering, his eyes playful.

"DRACO MALFOY!"

Ginny Weasley places her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowed.

Chuckling nervously, he said, "Oh, come on Ginny, I was just having a bit of fun."

Harry decided to help him out feeling a bit sorry for his now friend. "It's okay Ginny. I'm sure Serpent Boy didn't mean it."

"HARRY!"

Laughing nervously, Harry muttered a quick apology.

Giggling, Hermione asked, "So where are you two headed?"

"To Hogsmeade, aren't you going too?" the red head answered.

Hermione shook her head. "No, we're just going to walk around the grounds since it's emptier.

Draco chuckled, a naughty thought crossing his mind. "Alright then, we'll see you later." Passing closely to Harry, he whispered, "Don't to anything I wouldn't do."

Rolling his eyes, Harry punched him good-naturedly. "Shut it Malfoy."

"Fine, but don't blame me when there are too many little Potters for you to handle." With that, he and Ginny head out.

Noticing Harry's slightly flushed cheeks, Hermione asked, "What did Draco say?"

"Nothing…" he murmured.

Raising an eyebrow, she decided to let it go, for now…

They walked around the lake in contented silence.

Hermione feels Harry push her out of his mind; his cheeks are slightly flushed. "What's wrong?" she asks curiously. There doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary in the dream for Harry to have reacted the way he did…

"Th-there's more," he replies, tentatively.

"Well obviously, if it made you react the way it did!" she exclaims, exasperated. "Why did you push me out?" she demands, her eyes fierce.

"I don't know if I'm ready to see it again…" he says in a small voice.

Her eyes adapt a gentle look. "Oh Harry, it'll be alright, I'll be right here with you."

He hesitates a minute longer before nodding. "Okay."

"Legilimens," she says once again.

They walked around the lake and on their third turn they heard a rumbling noise.

"What's that?" Hermione asked, biting her lip, in order to prevent the fear in her voice from escaping.

They saw ripples forming on the lake.

Harry grabbed her hand in a firm grip. "I'm not sure…" He looked up, spotting movement in-

Suddenly, more than two dozen robbed figures appeared from the inside of the Forbidden Forest.

"Death Eaters…" Harry growled under his breath. He felt Hermione tighten her grip.

"How did they ever manage to get in here?" she asked, annoyed and worried. No one should be able to get into Hogwarts uninvited.

This time, Hermione 'steps out'. "Well at least it seems that all those times I've told you that it's impossible to Apparate into Hogwarts' grounds has finally gotten through that thick skull of yours and has made your dream more realistic."

Harry lets out a short laugh. "Realistic is right." He pauses. "Are you going to finish?"

She nods. "Now, you know better than anyone that I never leave anything undone." She raises her wand, uttering, "Legilimens," one last time.

"I don't know Hermione but I think we have bigger problems than that!"

The curly haired girl could tell he's completely serious and afraid if only by the fact that he's using her full name. He's right, of course. What mattered was that they're here now.

They sprung apart as soon as the Death Eaters attacked.

Harry tried his best to push aside his worries for Hermione. He knew that she's more than capable of fending for herself. He focused on the half dozen Death Eaters before him with trepidation.

Hermione's conflicting thoughts were similar to those of Harry's. She was worried about what the Death Eaters appearing at Hogwarts all of a sudden. If they can get in here then Voldemort was more than capable of Apparating inside.

Of all times to be to be analyzing the situation, this was not one of those times. She should know this. Every second counted in life or death situations. It didn't help much, however, thinking about this while in her current position. Thankfully, she did well. Stunning the last Death Eater, she turned to Harry. She failed, however, to see one last Death Eater.

When Harry's taken down the last on his side, he also turned to his best friend. His eyes widened in horror. Before he could even form the word Avada, a bright green light enveloped her and she fell, dead before she hit the ground.

Hermione's vision is overwhelmed with green and black dots. She blinks repeatedly and, once they've mostly disappeared, she clears her throat. "That was a little…intense."

Harry is once again slumped on her shoulder, his whole being trembling with sobs.

"Shh-shh Harry, everything's all right. It was only a dream." She does her best to sooth her best friend, drawing circles on his back with the palms of her hands.

"You, you were… I thought you had…" He trails off, sitting up all of a sudden. "Hermione, what if-what if this means, now that Dumbledore's gone, Hogwarts isn't safe anymore? What if-?"

His best friend wipes his face of the tears he's shed. As he voices his worries, her fingers cover his mouth lightly. "You don't really believe Professor Dumbledore left us defenseless, do you? He loved us, his students, too much to have done this in vain."

He grabs her wrist, gently, and kisses the palm of her hand. Burying his other hand into her thick mane, he presses their foreheads together, and says in a serious tone, eyes shining with pain, "I always loose everyone I care for. My parents, Sirius, Dumbledore… I couldn't handle loosing you too." Tears well in his eyes, but he refuses to let them fall; he turns.

She will have none of that, though. Removing her hand from his, she takes his chin and their gazes connect once again. "I know it hurts to loose the people you love Harry. Remember, though, everyone who has died, has died for a good cause. If it weren't for your parents, Sirius, and Dumbledore, you wouldn't be here right now. I never would have met you. Without you-"

"Without me you could have led a normal life!"

She scoffs. "A normal life? What is normal? Muggles? Witches and Wizards? Merlin forbid, it's definitely not Mudbloods!"

"Mione!"

"I'd probably still be the stuffy Know-it-All bookworm, the girl who ran off to the girl's loo, crying her eyes out. Better yet, without you, Voldemort would have been alive. Hogwarts would have become a school for Death Eaters-in-training! I would have grown up as a Muggle with odd occurrences happening all around me. Who knows what would have happened to those who had opposed Voldemort during the war, like the Weasleys!" She holds in her tears, wishing with every fiber of her being she could take away the pain that's slowly consuming her best friend.

"Then you can start-"

"You'll never be rid of me Harry James. I'm staying by your side. Forever."

Something around them suddenly shifts. Emerald meets chocolate. They smile at one another.

"Forever sounds long."

"Too long?"

"Never, it's perfect." Caressing her cheek, he plants a small kiss on her lips, pouring his emotions in one simple action. "Forever."

Ahh… I'm SO happy I was finally able to finish this fic after so long! I hope everyone enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Let me know what you all think, please!

Eli