Biting cold water ran down her tearstained face, it felt so good and clean after a horrible night…
Hermione rubbed her face with the hand towel next to the porcelain sink, breathing heavily and deeply in the tiny faded yellow bathroom next to Ginny's room. Taking a sopping washcloth, she put it behind her neck, sweaty with her dream's horrors and with the hours lain awake, listening to the sounds of grief rocking the Burrow. She would never forget George's inconsolable, but fairly quiet sobs, Ginny's whimpers in her sleep, or even Mr. Weasley's gaunt face upon arriving at the Burrow the first time since the battle- the Battle of Hogwarts it was now called. Rubbing the sleep out of her still-red eyes, Hermione walked out of the bathroom still with her washcloth and right into the room she was sharing with Ginny. Ginny herself was curled up in her quilt, staring blankly through her window; her eyes swollen and her flaming red hair tussled and knotted, fanning out behind her. Hermione sat on the edge of the bed and gave the leg of one of her closest friends a reassuring rub.
"Today is going to be terrible." Ginny sighed, not looking at Hermione.
"Can't be much worse then last night." Hermione answered, now getting up to get her wand on the nightstand and then sitting on her bed, opposite of Ginny. She recognized both pain and determination in that familiar face as Ginny's eyes met hers. "Would you like me to get you anything? Water?"
"No, I'm coming too. I want to get moving. "The slightly younger girl yawned, throwing off her quilt and stretching.
Hermione pointed the wand to the rickety old wooden fan next to the window pulsing with the morning's strong sun, the heat in the Burrow was getting ridiculous, she felt like she had slept in a sauna. The feeble warm breeze the fan granted wasn't much of a help, as she dried her borrowed nightshirt from the washcloth's drippings and changed into even more borrowed clothes, her own in tatters from everything that she had gone through the last two days. It was too kind of the Weasleys to take her in like this, when they saw she had no where else to go they didn't even seem to think that not taking her in was an option. They where like family, closer sometimes. She had found a sister in Ginny, a mother in Mrs. Weasley, and in Ron, well, Ron was her everything.
"Stupid…knots…" Ginny murmured, struggling to bring her brush through her hair, and bringing Hermione back to the Burrow. "'Mione, would you mind?"
"Er, sure, of course" Hermione stuttered, distracted and embarrassed she hadn't offered sooner. With her wand, she quickly siphoned the knots out of Ginny's long hair.
"Thanks." Ginny said, giving Hermione a brief smile. "Not long till I'll be able to do it myself…"
"No problem. Um." Hermione glanced at the doorway. "Should, er, we um…"
"Let's go." Ginny said with a nod, also looking at the hallway ahead, both afraid and apprehensive to face the challenges the day awaited.