Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I also do not own the song mentioned at the bottom, Once Upon These Days.
Summary: Harry and Hermione find comfort in one another as the war rages on and when trouble occurs at Hogwarts Harry is determined to set Hermione out on her own, but obstacles in his way bring Harry and Hermione together nonetheless. But can one part of the relationship survive?
AN: Hello, time to say goodbye. This has been a lovely fic and you are all wonderful people. Truly. Now, bye, so do email me sometimes, okay?? Please? Just an FF PM, please, a fanfic personal message. Private message, whatever. R&R for the last time.
Chapter 14: The End:
Hermione is stomping in the mud, following Seamus and Dean toward the forest. She has soot on her nose from floo-powdering to St. Mungos, and the hem of her robes are splattered in mud. She doesn't think she's ever been part of a stranger group, as she shoots a dark glance behind her to Ginny and Neville.
"I hate this." She murmurs to both of them.
Scrimgeour still has his cloak swishing behind him, like a large towering bat and lion at the same time, his 'mane' flying furiously. McGonagall has half of her robes in dirt, and Seamus and Dean seem to be the only ones who actually know where they were going.
"Are we almost there, boys?" Scrimgeour barks to Dean and Seamus.
"Almost, just around this clearing…" They both murmur uncertainly, and push away a branch of leaves to climb into a clearing.
Hermione steps on a twig as she climbs over the high bush, scrambling to get over it. She can hear Ginny slipping behind her, shrieking slightly as she lands into the mud, the back of her hair and robes now completely covered in mud. Nobody pays any attention.
"Here we are, it was right–" Dean starts, turning into a clearing, but stops a second later, clearly petrified.
Hermione hurries around the corner with McGonagall and Scrimgeour in the lead. Something is on the dirt.
"Oh, Harry!" She shrieks, and sees Harry's clearly dead body lying sideways in the dirt.
"Is he dead?" McGonagall asks.
Ginny and Neville reach the body by now, Ginny slipping again into the mud and Neville gasping. Everybody except Scrimgeour looks like they're about to start crying at this pitiful and pathetic sight before them.
The Minister leans down and touches Harry's hand.
"Cold as an ice cube, Minerva." He says heavily, and gets back up again.
"Oh my." McGonagall says, holding a handkerchief to her mouth.
"And no bullet, dagger, or any sort of Muggle device seems to killed him. It is confirmed that he was killed with Avada Kedavra.
At this point, Scrimgeour's wand spits out a few green sparks but doesn't do anything else. He pockets it, turning to Dean and Seamus suspiciously.
"Are you sure he was alive when you saw him?"
"Yes!" They both shout, rather desperately, looking at the body in clear dismay.
"Well," He says heavily. "This was gruesome enough for all of us. Minerva, will you escort these kids back to Hogwarts?"
"Of course, Minister." She says shakily, and cocks her head toward the opening of the clearing. Hermione and the other Gryffindors follow.
She did not want to see that. Harry's pale, dead cold body sprawled out in front of her, dead and murdered… It did nothing to ease her spirit. That mental snapshot of Harry lying icily on the mud was engorged in her brain. She shook it, and tears fell down her cheeks.
"There will be a funeral, Minerva." Scrimgeour mumbles from the front, and McGonagall nods, trembling.
This did not ease her spirits at all.
"Are you coming, Hermione?" Ginny asks, knocking on the bathroom door. She nods to the door even though nobody can see her, and zips up her dress from the back.
"Yes, I'm coming."
She leaves the bathroom, Ginny dressed in a long gown, black, with a formal gray jacket thrown over her shoulders. Her hair is back in a smooth and silky bun, and Hermione's is up in a curly up-do. She didn't spend much time on her hair or her makeup, or what she was wearing. This was a funeral, not a formal dinner party or gathering. She wiped the last tears from her eyes before walking down with Ginny, where Neville, Seamus, and Dean were all dressed in their black formal wear. Hermione gulped around the lump in her throat.
"You ready?" Seamus asks softly, looking more at Hermione than Ginny. She nods.
"Yeah, let's go."
They all walk out of the Gryffindor common room, stopping at the hospital wing to pick up Lily (where Madam Pomfrey was positively in tears) and then went over to McGonagall's office.
"Professor, we're all here."
McGonagall opened the door immediately, also in black robes. She was crying into her gray napkin again, and explained that they would travel by portkey. They all gathered around a small tin can with the words Sleakeasy's Hair Smoother, and spun over to what Hermione assumed was the funeral yard.
She had her hands out in front of her, stopping her fall on the hard, cold earth. It was only firm dirt here, at the funeral yard, where several tombstones and graves were around. There were small wooden chairs to sit on, all sitting in the dirt, and a large black casket in the middle. Hermione cries, crying at the sight of the casket in front of her where she only knows that Harry is in it. She still has that shimmering ring on her finger, and she probably will never take it off. Ginny gets to her feet, going over to the seat next to her Hermione.
"Oh god, this is harder than I thought it would be." Ginny says tearfully, looking at the casket mournfully. Hermione nods, but doesn't look over.
More than fifty people are gathered around the casket now, Hermione is probably the only one who really is dying inside right now at the sight of Harry in the casket. McGonagall and other teachers were on the left side, all comforting each other. There was no speech. Everybody simply cries, some people wailing, some just mourning stonily. After ten minutes, the crowd slowly starts getting up and dispersing slowly. Hermione and Ginny get up but Hermione only does it to move closer to the casket. Ginny stands next to her.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes," Hermione says softly. "I'll make it by."
"We all will."
"My life may never be the same again," She says in between tears. "B-But I will still love h-him. No matter how dead he might be."
Ginny pats her on the shoulder reassuringly. "What will you do after you graduate?"
Hermione's grip on Lily tightens. "I don't know. I'll need to take care of Lily."
"I'll help you, you know."
"You'll be in school still." Hermione brushes off.
"No, but Neville will be there. And I'll visit for every holiday I have."
Hermione doesn't nod or say anything. Ginny gives her and Lily a small hug and then walks over to Neville. Hermione's likes it best this way, her alone in front of the casket, with only Lily by her side.
While things may look rough right now to her, she knows that she'll make it through. Everything will be alright if she simply lets it happen. She'll make it through.
What's this life anyway?
What's it to you and me?
What's it to anyone?
Who are we supposed to be?
Make me a storybook
Write me away from here
I need a different now
Where we can wear each other for awhile
I'll lend you my tears if I could borrow a smile
I'll get through tomorrow somehow today
Happy After...
Once upon these days
There's four roads to anywhere
Four ways to everything
We were unbreakable
We spoke our destiny
Let's take a moment out
Go were we never go
Let's make a new world now
Where we can wear each other for awhile
I'll lend you my tears if I could borrow your smile
We'll get through tomorrow somehow today
Happy After...
Once upon these days
Then one day we'll find
When we're looking back at this time
Wondering how we've come so far from this
When we close our eyes
What's this life anyway?
What's it to you and me?
What are we doing here?
Who are we supposed to be?
I'll take a better world
I'll take anything
I'll take our little world now
Where we can wear each other for awhile
I'll lend you my tears if I could borrow your smile
We'll get through tomorrow somehow today
Happy After...
Once upon these days.