Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
You Tried, and That's All that Matters
By: ChoCedric
Harry lies in the casket, so peaceful and still. He is dressed in fancy dress robes, and his hair is as messy as ever. But this is not really Harry, Hermione reminds herself as she touches his cold, limp hand. This is not Harry, the boy she cared for deeply. This is just a shell of him, an empty body.
She finds it strange that no one bothered to close his eyes. They are still staring at nothing, and they are empty and lifeless like the passages of an endless tunnel as she gazes fixedly into them. Her best friend Harry will never catch a Snitch again, he will never laugh with her again, never tease her again, and she will never hear his soft and reassuring voice again.
There will be no end of the war stories, no more "when the good side has won" predictions. As she stands there sobbing at her friend's viewing, she can't help but think that this whole world's gone to hell. Harry is gone, gone, gone, and Voldemort is still at large. Harry went on the Horcrux search with Ron and herself, and Remus, Tonks, and Kingsley came as well. She convinced Harry to tell a few members of the Order what their mission was, because Dumbledore couldn't have expected three extremely young wizards to go on such a dangerous quest alone. They hoped everything would be fine, but when they arrived at Godric's Hollow to see his parents' graves, Peter Pettigrew was waiting there with a number of Death Eaters and Voldemort in tow.
It was a battle to the death. They took out some Death Eaters, and Hermione was so proud of the way Harry fought. She tried to run to him when he was struck down by Cruciatus from Voldemort himself, but more fighters blocked her path. She quickly sent a Patronus to the rest of the Order, but they did not come fast enough. By the time they got there, Harry had already fallen. For after the Cruciatus was lifted, Harry got back up again and continued fighting, but Voldemort then sent an Avada Kedavra his way when he wasn't prepared. Ron, Remus, Tonks, Kingsley, and Hermione watched in horror as their friend fell to the ground, lifeless eyes staring up at the sky. Voldemort and his Death Eaters let out laughs and huge cheers, and then they disapparated, leaving the five to stand over their fallen soldier. He simply lay there on the ground, unmoving, unbreathing, so, so limp and still. They called his name repeatedly, shook his shoulders desperately, but nothing happened. Against all logic, Hermione even tried the Enervate spell on him, but still nothing. He just continued to lie there, still as a statue. Voldemort had won.
She remembers when the Order arrived. She screamed hysterically, "You're too late!" pointing at her lifeless best friend. His eyes were still staring up at the sky just like they are doing now, and she gazed into their pointlessness just like she is now. She can't see why they have to be so green, so unbelievably green, when there is no life in them anymore.
Everyone is sobbing, stroking Harry's hands, stroking his face, but yet his eyes are still staring into the sky and still no one bothers to close them. It is almost as if they are expecting him to get right back up again, and she can't help but expect that too, for in the past, Harry always got right back up again. It's so unlike him to be just lying there, so limp. It had taken all the Order's strength those few torturous days ago to get her to leave his side, because she kept insisting that the life would return to him. Voldemort's Avada Kedavra failed the first time he used it on him, why did it have to work this time?
She's sobbing, too, she's sobbing for the person Harry was. But the majority of people at this viewing are sobbing because their hero, their statue, the Boy-Who-Lived, is gone. Fury and revulsion roil inside her gut as she realizes how much they've all failed Harry. No one taught him more ways and means that could possibly get rid of Voldemort. As much as people say he's failed the entire wizarding world, she has to disagree. The entire wizarding world failed Harry.
She has heard that huge gatherings of mourners are converging on the streets of Diagon Alley, cursing his name and wondering why they had to have such a disappointment for a savior. But Hermione knows that he did the best he could, under the circumstances. How could the whole freaking world expect a seventeen-year-old boy to defeat a much older, much more experienced wizard, and the most evil wizard of all time at that? Voldemort has so much dark magic at his disposal, and Harry only had a certain number of spells in his arsenal. She vows to him that she will keep fighting, even though she has lost him. She will fight extra hard for the wizarding world, even if Voldemort is now unbeatable. She will die fighting if she has to, and prove to Harry that he didn't die in vain. He shouldn't have felt like he had to do it all on his own.
She knows that wherever Harry is now, he is reunited with his loving parents, Lily and James. She knows that even though he didn't succeed in beating Voldemort, his parents must be extremely proud of him. A happy family was all he ever wanted; that was one of the things he told her when he revealed what he'd seen in the Mirror of Erised. She remembers his hesitant voice, as though he thought she'd tell him he was stupid for ever wishing that. His greatest wish has finally been granted, and he is also with Sirius again. At least in Heaven, there will be no more Voldemort to terrorize him, no more prophecy, no more doom and destruction.
She gives Harry a kiss on the cheek, grasping his hand as tightly as she possibly can. She doesn't want to let go of it ever, but knows she has to. Even though she was only his friend, she still felt a deep bond and connection with him.
She decides she'll do one last thing for him: She gazes into Harry's emerald eyes for the very last time, and then gently reaches out to close them. "You tried, and that's all that matters," she whispers in his ear. She strokes his peaceful face one final time, and then walks into the church to sit down for the funeral, with Ron, Ginny, and the rest of the Weasleys at her side. No matter what happens, she will never forget the boy with the famous, lightning-bolt scar.