He was pulled out of his reverie by a loud masculine voice calling over all the shouting of spells, “The Dark Lord is dead!”
Everything stopped. The battle seemed to have been won with that one pronouncement. Harry managed to sit up slightly and look around at the field before him. All around, Death Eaters were raising their hands in defeat. He saw Ron leaning over what looked like the small, lifeless body of Ginny Weasley. Harry gulped back tears.
He saw who it was who had made the pronouncement of Voldemort’s death, it was Professor Snape. When the battle started, Snape had shed his double agent role and openly fought on the side of light.
Looking around more, he saw Neville and Parvati covering a Death Eater with long black hair with their wands. Even from many yards away, Harry could see the anger mixed with the sadness in Neville’s eyes. Bellatrix Lestrange was the reason that Neville had no parents, at least, no sane parents.
He surveyed the ground further, and saw that many students and members of the Order had fallen. Madame Pomfrey, with the help of Professor Sprout, was conjuring stretchers for the wounded and the dead. Harry saw McGonagall’s limp body be lifted into a stretcher, as well as those of Tonks and of Kingsley. He saw Colin Creevey openly weeping over what appeared to be his younger brother’s body, and a few yards away from them, both Lavender and Dean lay badly wounded.
Harry began to worry. He had not seen Hermione yet, and he was beginning to fear the worst, when he heard a voice call, from far across the grounds, “Harry! Harry, are you okay?”
In seconds, she crossed the distance between them and was sitting next to him, a look of intense worry upon her face. “Harry, oh Harry, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he lied, forcing a smile, when in fact, he was incredibly tired and weak from the duel he had just participated, “Are you all right?”
“Oh Harry, don’t lie to me, I can always tell when you’re lying,” she said curtly, and promptly removed her cloak. She folded into a pillow and slipped into under his head, “Lie down, Harry.”
He laughed as he leaned back. Hermione seemed okay, she was still able to be her bossy stuff. But, he noticed as she pulled her straggling hairs back, that she had a large cut on her arm. “What’s that?” he asked, forgetting for a moment his own condition to sit up and examine her wound.
“It’s nothing Harry, it’s really nothing,” she said, forcing him to lie down again, “Now please, rest, you look terrible.”
He suddenly felt the full impact of the last seven years of his life. It was done now, but that didn’t make the pain of it all go away. Seven years of fighting battles, big and small, not only to defeat Voldemort, but just to make it through school.
And Harry wanted to let go of all of it. He knew, at the moment, that if he would allow his body to do it, he could die. Move on, be with Sirius and his parents, and everything would be miles better. But then there was Hermione.
She was looking at him, her brown eyes full of so much concern. He remembered her words to him the previous year. He couldn’t leave her now; he just couldn’t abandon her like that.
They sat in silence for what seemed like forever, and Harry silently fought the battle to hold on. After what seemed like several hours, but was really only about five minutes, Hermione whispered, “Harry, you can let go if you have to.”
He looked up at her, and saw tears welling up in her eyes. “But Hermione”“
She put her hand to his lips and said sweetly, “I know what I said, Harry, but I was wrong. I promise Harry, it may be tough, but I’ll find a way to make it without you. But I can’t go on knowing that you prolonged your life of pain and suffering just for me. Harry, I love you.”
“Tell Ron I’m sorry about Ginny. Take care of him, Hermione. And take care of yourself. I love you too, Hermione,” Harry whispered, even in his last moments thinking of others. And with that, all his memories of pain and suffering were gone as his life drifted away.