Work Text:
It was a cold Sunday night in the tiny tent they had set up. This tent was a reminder of what used to be as she looked around. The small desk they used was covered in papers of theories and news clippings from the past few months. The two cots that were not very neatly made, it was quaint, but it was all they had at the moment. Being on the run because of V- ,You-Know-Who, set Hermione on edge. She was sat on the cold floor with Harry's head in her lap. They only had each other as Ron bailed on them months ago, and it didn't look like he was coming back anytime soon.
Hermione shook her head, trying to get out of her thoughts. She looked down at the sleeping younger teen who over the years had become her brother in all but blood. It was horrible that he was only a seventeen year-old boy and the "capable adults," would put the whole world on one kids shoulders; and when he unavoidably messed up in their eyes, they would push him from the pedestal they put him upon in the first place. It made her angry thinking of all the things her little brother had been through. She remembered the day she vowed to do anything for him, she would give her life for him if necessary. Her little brother stirred in her lap, and she could see the pain on his face, putting her hand in his hair and running it through in hopes of soothing the squirming younger teen.
She thought back to her second lesson with Snape, the lessons they had kept secret, the lessons that helped her protect her brother.
=-+-=+=-+-= Flashback =-+-=+=-+-=
"Foolish girl! Don't you realize that this could very well be the saving grace of Potter! He doesn't think and gets himself so far in his own grief, guilt, and anger that he would attack without thought! He needs someone who can be there to guide him!" The hook nosed man was in her face again, screaming, in hopes she got whatever it was he was trying to teach her into her agile mind.
She stared at him, her frizzy hair sticking to her face, drenched with sweat. Her wand clutched tightly in her clammy hands. Trembling, she nodded. Determined, she fought harder.
The man realized that screaming was not the way to teach the intelligent girl in front of him. He meed to put it into terms she would understand. He needed to use Potter, so he made a very unrepeatable choice and spoke softly, almost in a singing tone.
"Alright, everything begins with your stance," he began, she nodded. Looking slightly like a sponge hoping to soak up whatever it was he said.
"Remember, you do it for him, and you would do it again," he sang softly. She nodded and with determination fixed her stance and locked her wand on him.
"You do it for her, that is to say, you do it for him," she looked confused at what he was speaking of, but inside she understood. He did this for her, for Lily, just like she did for Harry.
"Keep your stance wide, keep your body lowered. As your moving forward balance is the key," he told her and she copied his stance with her feet pointed and farther apart than they had been, raising her wand they began.
"Right foot, left foot, now go even faster. As your moving backwards keep your eyes on me," he got more aggressive with every word, almost as if he was beating his words into the female brunette. Spells flying as she tried to block all of his and simultaneously throwing her own but failing as he caught her against the wall and knocked her wand out of her hand.
In another lesson she recited what he told her last time.
"Keep my stance wide"
"Good" he said with a passive tone.
"Keep my body lowered"
"Right" he agreed.
"As i'm moving forward-" she was cut off by a spell.
"Concentrate! Don't you want him to live!?" He demanded.
"Right foot, left foot" she remembered, putting her training to use.
"Yes, but put your whole body into it" he commanded in exasperation.
He called her off to tell her something, a story.
"Everything you have, everything you are, you've got to give" his voice got dark, and his face was somber. His eyes told a story of a bloody battle, a battle with lives being taken for no reason other than that it was possible. This battle, with ghosts that still haunt the cold man, she could see through the doors to his soul.
"On the battlefield, when everything is chaos, and you have nothing but the way you feel, your strategy and a wand. You just think about the life you'll have together after the war," he told her.
"And then you do it for her, that's how you know you can win, you do it for her, that is to say you do it for him," he looked conflicted from his slight slip up, but reminded her of her true purpose here nonetheless. They got back into their dueling stances and he shared with her something he had thought of long ago.
"Deep down, you know, you weren't built for fighting, but that doesn't mean your not prepared to try". He walked to her as she went to sip from her water bottle, and to take a break.
"What they don't know is your real advantage, when you live for someone your prepared to die," he took the bottle and threw it across the room causing water to bathe the wall. Firing more spells at her, causing her to have to throw up shields in order for her to not get hit.
" Deep down I know, that i'm just a teen, but I/you know that I/you can draw my/your wand and fight," they agreed.
"With my short existence,"
"Good," he replied to a cutting curse that almost got through his shields
"I can made a difference,"
"Yes, excellent," as a Bombarda knocked him from his feet and his wand flew from his hand and into hers.
"I can be there for him, I can be his knight," she said confidently holding the potions professors dark wooded wand.
"I can do it for him"
"You do it for her," they said together.
"Okay, now do that again," he pushed her.
"Yes, sir," she replied
"You do it for her and now you say," he put a hand over his own heart and looked pointedly at her.
"I'll do it for him," she replied. He nodded at her and student and teacher parted ways for the last time.
=-+-=+=-+-= Flashback Over =-+-=+=-+-=
Hermione smiled as she looked over her brother. Yes, she would do anything for this man. She would support him no matter what he did, or where he goes, she would be there for him and would give everything she had to be his knight, because he was the wizarding world's hope, their savior. More importantly, her friend. The one who would stop Voldemort, the one who would take the blame if anything went wrong, but she refused to let him do it alone. She was alone with her thoughts as he slept, but she was determined.
"I'll do it for him..."