Emerging With Grace

The Harry Potter Series and it's characters belong to JK Rowling. I make no profit from this story or it's characters. No copyright infringment intended.

Chapter 1

The spells flew around me with such speed and deadly intentions. The light from them was causing me to see bright, multi colored spots every time I closed my eyes. They cast an eerie green glow over the vast landscaping that hours before had been so calm. It was hard to see around me, the erratic bursts of light cast dark shadows on the faces of those all around.

People were falling, either dying, stunned or just too frightened to continue. I didn't know which side was losing. I don't know if I even cared. Sometimes I would see the faces in the fallen people of friends I knew, other times I would see faces that I didn't recognize. I didn't know if they were friend or foe. All I knew was that they were lying there, unmoving and silent.

I had gotten separated from Ron and Harry after we destroyed the lost diadem. I tried searching for them, but it was pointless. The masses of people, giants, statues and other creatures made it too difficult to distinguish one person from the next. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. It wasn't going to happen.

I ran across the grounds shooting off curses, every spell, every hex that I knew in attempts to help my fellow classmates and their families. I saw a bolt of angry green light shoot out of a wand in the corner of my eye. The light dazzled me for a moment and I watched as it hit its intended mark.

Time seemed to slow down and move in extreme slow motion as I watched the woman fall to the ground with a light thud. I heard a high pitched scream break through the night, but I didn't realize that the horrendous noise had come from me. I ran forward as fast as I could, not caring that I might get hit with a wayward curse. I sank beside the woman, tears flowing hot and salty down my cheeks. They came in such a force that I couldn't stop them from falling. All of the breath in my body seemed to leave me as I realized who had fallen.

“Tonks!”

I put my hands on her shoulders and tried to shake her. From a distance she probably looked like she was just laying down, taking a rest. But I knew that the light had gone out of her eyes and her body was laying in an unnatural position on the ground, that she wasn't resting, that she wasn't getting up.

I put my arms around her, trying to protect her body from the trample of feet and the curses that zoomed passed. I couldn't hear anything anymore, and my eyes were blurred by my tears. I was screaming at people to back away, to be careful with her.

It wasn't right that she was gone. She had just become a wife to the man that she loved so deeply, she had just become a mother. She had such a wonderful life ahead of her. A life that in reality had only begun. She was one of the strongest fighters, the strongest women I had ever known. It wasn't right for her to be laying here. For her to not smile at me, for her eyes to not see me.

I couldn't take it anymore. All of these people that I loved and cared about were dying around me. Who knew what had happened to Harry, to Ron. What about Hagrid, he was the toughest man she knew. Was he laying somewhere on the grounds, bathed in darkness, unseeing the dark sky above us? Just as cold and lifeless as the woman here in my arms? I laid my head down on her chest and sobbed.

I looked up every now and again as a curse and a jet of light would fly past me. I didn't care. There was nothing to fight for anymore if the people I loved the most were gone, if I couldn't help them. Suddenly a hard body crashed into me almost knocking me over. Strong arms wrapped themselves around me protectively. I heard a male voice vibrating through the fog that had filled my ears.

“Hermione, please! We have to go.”

I looked up at the man through my water filled eyes to see Charlie Weasley's body folded over mine. His crystal blue eyes took in the woman I was clutching onto and his mouth set into a grim line. He tried to pry my fingers off of her, he wanted me to leave her here. Leave her here laying on the wet ground where someone could disturb her.

“Let's go Hermione! His forces are coming this way, we can't let them catch you. They will kill you! Please!” His voice was pleading with me to come with him. I couldn't bring myself to let her go, to say goodbye to my friend, knowing that she wouldn't answer me back with a smile on her face.

I looked up at him and saw the complete understanding in his eyes. They mirrored the pain in my own, the anguish in my heart. My voice was hoarse as I answered him back.

“I can't leave her here. Alone! Where is Remus? He is going to be so heartbroken. I couldn't help her Charlie. I can't leave her here for them to destroy her further. I can't leave her.” I screamed at him, trying to make his realize what had happened. I couldn't hold back the harsh sobs that broke through my chest.

His muscular arms wrapped around me and he buried his long fingers in my hair. I sank my face into his chest as deeply as I could. Trying to cling on to him for my own sanity. He lifted my chin up to look me in the eye. His calloused thumb ran across my cheek taking with it the burning tears that were choking me.

“We can't lose you! Think of everyone else!” His voice was soft yet demanding at the same time. I heard him mutter a spell and Tonk's body vanished before my eyes. “She is hidden. They won't find her body. We will come back and collect it, but Hermione, we need to get out of here.”

He didn't wait for me to answer him. He just lifted me up into his arms and ran. He never stumbled and he never lost his grip on me. I couldn't look around at the bodies around me, I couldn't see their faces and know that they were no longer a part of this world.

He pushed my head into his shoulder so that I wouldn't see, but it was too late. Laying in a spot we had just passed was Remus Lupin. The man who had taught me so much. The man who had struggled for most of his life for acceptance, the man who had only just found happiness and content.

I waited for the scream to come, but it didn't. I had seen too much, felt too much pain. I was now numb to everything that was going on around me. Silent tears fell, burning hot onto Charlie's torn and singed shirt. He didn't run for long because we stopped and I heard his footsteps echo across the marble of the entranceway to the school. I felt his legs pump underneath me as he ran up the great stone staircases.

I peaked out and saw the pieces of rubble that had fallen in the destruction. He didn't stop until he found an empty classroom. He did some fast spellwork that I didn't recognize and he sat me down gently.

I looked around the room. It was the history of magic class room. Somehow it had escaped the damage that covered the rest of the school. Like the room was ready for students to come in and walk through the doors the next morning. The desks and tables lined up perfectly, a few books on some of the desks, and words for the next days lessons written on the chalk board. A bubble of laughter escaped my lips as I thought of this.

Charlie looked at me like I had lost my mind. Maybe he was right. Who in their right minds could find anything humorous about our situation? He had a strange expression on his face. His eyebrow was lifted in a question. It was at that point that I realized he was injured.

He had a long gash on the side of his cheek, multiple burn marks on his arms, and his shirt was covered in splatters of blood. I walked over to him to examine him further.

“Charlie, you're hurt.” He just smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, what do you expect? I have been fighting death eaters.” He made it sound like it was easy work, that it was something that he did every day.

He lifted his hand and brushed the hair out of my face. Only when he did that did I notice that I was in pretty much the same condition. I had multiple cuts on my arms, my shirt was torn in several places, my face I was sure had nicks and scraps on it from falling and getting grazed with missed spells and curses.

I pulled out my beaded bag, surprised that I still had it and pulled out a bottle of the medicine I had been using while we were on the hunt for horocruxes. I dabbed it on some of his cuts and watched them disappear and heal. When I was sure that I had gotten them all he grabbed the bottle to do the same to me.

When he dabbed it on a particularly deep laceration I winced in pain. He instantly pulled back, afraid that he had hurt me. I reassured him that I was fine and let him continue.

I don't know what came over me, but I pulled him closer to me. Bringing his face down closer to mine. I ran my fingers over the strong bones in his face, his full lips and looked into his deep soulful eyes. I tangled my fingers into his dark hair. The heat emitting from him felt like it would burn me. He leaned in further and pressed his lips to mine roughly. I didn't even consider pulling back. I kissed him back with all the passion I had in me.

His fingers dug into my hair, pulling on it slightly. Not enough to hurt, but enough to show me the urgency he was feeling. My lips parted as his tongue entered my mouth, mating with mine. I smashed into him, my hand clawing at his shirt. He pulled back and ripped it from his body, baring his chest to me. It was hard and sculpted with a sprinkling of hair across it. His muscles perfectly proportioned as the bright moonlight shone through the windows. I looked my fill at him until his mouth crashed down on mine again.

The urgency of his kiss was enough to push me to the edge. I felt desired, I felt wanted. He was setting my body on fire as his hot mouth made it's way down my throat lightly licking and biting at my heated skin. His hands calloused and rough made their way along my arms to the bottom of my shirt. His fingers played with the sensitive skin across my stomache before he pulled my shirt over my head, leaving me standing there with only my jeans and my bra covering my over sensitive flesh.

His hands grasped my hips as he lifted me up onto the table while capturing my lips once again. I felt his hand slip around my back unsnapping my bra and sliding it off of my arms. He stepped back and looked at my bare torso. His mouth closed over my already rouched nipple, drawing it in between his hot lips. I felt desire run through me and I let our a hiss at the exquisite sensation his action had given me. It washed over me and I felt it from my head all the way to my hot center.

I reached my hand over to stroke the bulge that was becoming larger and more strained in his jeans. I let my fingers wander over the hard planes of his stomache and flutter across the waistband of his jeans. His hips bucked and pressed himself further into my hands. I undid the button and zipper of his dark denim and let them pool around his feet. He wasn't wearing boxers so his erection stood out at me. Hot, pulsing and ready for my touch.

I wrapped my fingers around his penis and started to stroke evenly. Being a virgin I didn't know what he would like. My thoughts cut off as a deep growl came out of his throat. He pushed me back onto the table and tore my jeans off. When they landed on the floor next to my shirt and shoes he hooked his thumbs into my underwear and slid them slowly down my legs where it joined the growing pile of clothing at his feet.

He lifted one of my legs into the air and started nipping and pressing soft kisses into my skin. I was self conscious for only a moment because I was so exposed to him. I didn't care, I needed this. I needed him right now to keep the horrible thoughts and images that I had seen away from me. A haze had seeped into my brain. It didn't even register to me where we were or what was going on around me. It was only the two of us in this room as the war raged around us.

His lips made it down to my inner thigh and eventually to the soft folds that shielded my virginity from him. His mouth blew cold air onto my scalding hot center before he buried his face in between my legs. His tongue was hot as it flicked over my sensitive bud. I almost shot off the table at the pleasure coursing through my veins. I felt myself heating to such a degree that I didn't know was possible. My legs were wet from the heat of his body pressed against mine.

I felt his teeth bite down on me gently but with enough pressure that I came hard. His mouth traveled up my body to press into my mouth once again. I could taste myself on him. It was exotic, it was heaven being with him.

I felt his hot manhood press against me, lubricating me with a few drops that were seeping from him. His lips pressed against my ear, his hot breath causing me to shiver in delight. His tongue swirled around my earlobe as he whispered into my ear.

“Please.”

I brought his lips to mine once again to let him know I was ready for this. He wrapped his arms around me half lifting me up to him as his heat entered me slowly. His fullness felt like he was stretching me to the limit, but hidden in the pain I knew was the promise of more pleasure to come.

He caught the scream that erupted from my throat in his mouth as he slid his fingers down my body to rub against me. He stilled for a moment while rubbing against me, helping my body lubricate so that I could accept him easier. It didn't take very long because I was panting hard next to him, ready for him to continue. His hardness slid into me once again, pushing my mind to the limit with the exquisite pleasure I was feeling. His thrusts were slow until I was clawing at his back pushing him further, screaming his name. He murmured words into my hair that my fuzzy brain couldn't understand. With a few powerful thrusts I was exploding. My ears were ringing and my vision danced in front of me as I felt him orgasm hard within me.

He kept himself inside me as we both rode the wave of climax that was soaring through us. A fine veil of sweat covering our body and the scent of our lovemaking clung to the air. His lips devoured mine once again.

Out of the sudden fallen silence of the night a scream pierced through the air. It shook the walls around us and stopped my heart in mid beat. Charlie leaned off of me and grabbed his clothes. We dressed as quickly as we could, not bothering to see if our clothes were on properly because there was only one person who could make a noise like that. Only one person who could feel that kind of gut wrenching scream. We both knew who that woman was. Tears scalded me again as the woman screamed once again the loss that only a mother could understand, the loss of her child. Charlie's strong facade melted as our deepest fears were confirmed.

Molly Weasley's sobs could be heard over the grounds as she screamed his name over and over again.

“Fred.”