Done

by selahanne

Hey guys! It's me, Selah Anne. Previously known as yewdust718. I've updated this story because it made me slightly cringe reading parts of it! I'm currently working on a Hermione/Nevillestory that I'm absolutely in love with, so pop over and click
the Follow on my profile so you get to read the first chapter as soon as it's posted! Probably the biggest story I've worked on so far and I'm head over heels over the storyline.

Disclaimer: I unfortunately do not own the wonderfulness and amazingness of Harry Potter

The war was over. The mad-man who had tortured and killed countless lives, was finally gone. Everyone was just too exhausted. Too exhausted to cheer for the end of the Second Wizarding War. Too exhausted to cry for the lost loved ones. But they had to
keep moving, had to help the hurt and the dying.

Hermione looked at the wreckage around her in the Great Hall. All she could hear was buzzing. Was it really over? Was all the torment passed? Was He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named really gone? Hermione was numb as she watched her surroundings.

Watched as the Weasley family sobbed around the still and broken body that was once Fred.

Watched Arthur and Molly wailing over their son.

Watched McGonagall bark orders to anyone that was there and willing to help with the wounded.

Watched families frantically looking around and calling out to missing loved ones.

Watched them crumble as they find their love, their parent, their sibling, their friends broken and still body.

Hearing a groan coming from 10 feet in front of her, Hermione's gut instincts cut in and she rushed over to the nearest fallen, a middle aged man with horrible gashes in his stomach and started chanting under her breath every healing spell she knew. She
watched with blank eyes as his skin seemingly stitched back together. Hermione kept moving from person to person, ignoring the exhaust that was settling into her bones. Ignoring the blood coating her fingers, under her nails, in her hair, seeping
into her clothes. Ignoring her heart breaking when she saw the light leave someone's eyes.

It was in the evening, nearing dusk, hours and hours after the final showdown of Harry Potter and Tom Riddle, when Hermione found herself under her favorite oak tree, on the opposite side of the lake. She looked back towards Hogwarts and she could still
see the smoke and flames still licking parts of the castle. She got nauseous just thinking about the damage and the lives that were taken that morning. She closed her eyes and laid down under that old faithful oak tree that has been her solace since
3rd year.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she shrieked when a hand tapped her shoulder and she shoved her wand into the apple of the mans throat.

"Geez 'Mione! Just relax, I'm not a death eater." laughed Neville, ducking away from the vine wood wand.

"I'm sorry Nev, you frightened me. Still a bit on edge." Hermione flushed and set her wand on the ground next to her.

Neville chuckled, trying to lighten things up, "Well, you're a force to be reckoned with. I have been looking all over for you." He plopped down to the ground and stretched out next to her, close enough for their shoulders to just barely touch.

They laid there for hours, till the sky was black, not saying anything. Both lost in their own thoughts. Without either of them aware, their fingers laced together at some point during the long rest they were taking.

"So many were lost." Hermione's voice cracked from being silent the past several hours. She shut her eyes tightly to try to stop the tears from building up and let out a long sigh as the first, of many to slip down past her temple into her hairline, squeezed
it's way out of the corner of her eye. Neville took her hand in his and interlocked their fingers. "So many people are now dead. Families are torn apart because of that ridiculous half-blood with a power fetish!" she squeezed her eyes so tightly that
she could see swirls of red and purple underneath her eyelids. She could tell when Neville sits up and faces her.

"Hermione, look at me." she slowly sat upright, and sat across from him, their knees against one another's, angry tears fell down her cheeks. "Things will get better." He said resolutely as he wiped away her tear tracks with his thumb.

Hermione gave him a weary look, "How do you know that? How do you know we are safe?"

"I don't. But we've gone through hell and back, there's not much we can't do." Neville gave a lopsided grin as he assured her with confidence that Hermione wasn't used to, coming from him.

She let out a sad chuckle, released another sigh and tipped her chin up to the sky, "You know what Nev, you're absolutely right."

"I know I am." Neville said cockily, making Hermione giggle. Which turned into a chuckle. Which turned into a laugh. And soon enough both of them were laughing so hard they were clutching their stomachs with their free hands and had tears running down
their faces. After several minutes of a needed release, they laid back down; Neville on his back with hand hands behind his head, and Hermione on her side facing him, with her head resting on her elbow.

Hermione looked at Neville and took him in under the moonlight. He had a gruesome cut over his left brow, a brilliant black eye. His jaw was now defined, he grew into his ears and teeth. She didn't see the little terrified boy that was her first real
friend that she met on the train to Hogwarts. She now saw a brave, handsome and confident young man. Wow, when did Nev grow up? Her thoughts whispered to her. Neville looked over and saw her staring, she flushed and looked away. He chuckled
and he put his arm around her shoulders and she laid her head on Neville's now broader chest. "Promise me something." She whispered.

Neville pushed some of Hermiones fringe away from her eyes and whispered back, "Anything."

"You were my first friend here, I don't ever want to lose you. Seeing you stand up to Voldemort like you did today, I saw the amazing man that I knew you always were, even if you didn't. Promise me that we will always be there for one another. Promise
you'll never leave me, no matter what." Her voice pleaded shakily.

He leaned over and planted a soft kiss to her forehead, and whispered, "Done."