Here we are. My suggestion has brought us to this moment. Hermione holds the basilisk fang in her hand and walks with purpose toward the Hufflepuff cup. She looks at me, and I give her a weak smile of reassurance. I am once again amazed by her inner strength as she raises the fang up. As the fang is swung down, determination is etched on her face.

Halfway to the cup she stops swinging, as if met with an invisible force field. Her eyes go hazy, and I know what is happening. The cup is trying to scare her, stop her from destroying it. She begins to cry out and I rush forward, desperate to stop her pain. She’s had enough for one lifetime. However, something I hear makes me stop dead in my tracks. It was one word. A single name.

“Harry?�

It was almost a question, the way she said it. Then she yells it again, more sure, and begins to sob and yell incoherently.

I am frozen. I can’t deal with this again. This cup, I knew only too well, would show your biggest fears. If Harry being hurt or dead was her biggest fear…

Let her suffer, I immediately think.

But no! I mustn’t. I love her. But I am still so conflicted and hurt that it takes me all of my strength to keeps my knees from buckling. This was why I had left them before, while we were camping in the forest. I know (or I thought I did at least) that it was an absurd idea, Hermione and Harry. I have regretted that decision ever since, but I was thinking that Hermione and I… well, we were… that she felt the same way I did. I can’t stand it that I am wrong.

Suddenly, her crying stops as soon as it had begun. Her eyes almost bulge out of her head. I faintly hear her whisper, “No.� Then, louder, in a normal voice, yet full of anguish, “No!� Next, she screams in a strangled voice, the same word over and over. “NO! NO! NO!� She looks possessed, with her eyes clouded over, her arms in mid-air over the cup, but that blood-curdling scream being emitted from her mouth. This sight shocks me out of my stupor and I rush forward as she begins to shake. I don’t even care what she is seeing at this point, I just want to stop it.

Through the mangled screams, though, I make out one word. A name she is sobbing repeatedly along with the shouts. My name.

That, right there, is like a kick in the stomach. I grab her wrists and force the fang onto the cup.

Immediately, I feel guilty. It was my idea that she raze the cup in the first place, and then I got mad at her for selfish reasons that weren’t even legitimate, and I prolonged her pain. I am the biggest idiot ever. But, a ray of hope surfaces; she had called my name out. She was anguished about me.

She looks up and that hope vanishes as soon as I look into her eyes. How stupid of me to have doubted her. I can’t live my life forever afraid she is going to run to Harry or I will just hurt her even further. She looks so scared with a mixture of confusion, hurt, grief, embarrassment, and I suppose relief that it wasn’t actually real. A memory from fifth year surfaces and I smile remembering when I had once said, “A person can feel all of that at once?� Oh, the things she has taught me. I would be nowhere without her.

Hermione looks like she is going to topple over, so I pull her violently shaking body in close to mine. We both have tears freely falling.

“I’m sorry,� she whispers faintly.

Confused, I pull away and look at her questionably. “For what?�

“I…I couldn’t destroy it on my own. I-I’m w-weak,� she sobs into my chest.

I am completely dumbfounded. Hermione Granger, the strongest person I know, was insecure about it. If anything, I should be the one apologizing right now. I laugh weakly and murmur, “Never.� She sobs even harder and we just stand there for a few minutes, leaning on each other, mustering the strength to continue.

“Hermione…� I say, while gazing intently into her eyes. “I love you more than anything.�

Without blinking she replies, “I love you, too�. I pull her tightly back against me and know right here, right now that I have to fight for her. I can’t let her go, not ever. I will protect her forever. If anything happening to me makes her that distraught, then I will stay protected for her. She will never suffer again, not if I can help it.

I grab her hand and squeeze it. With newfound determination, I pull away from her and say “Come on. Let’s go help Harry.� We gather the remaining fangs and set out further on our mission.