A/N- Well, this is my first go at writing a one-shot, as well as an angsty one. It's really short, 454 words total, not including ANs. Um, I came up with this randomly. Seriously- when I was eating ice cream and watching a rerun of the Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Don't ask. Just read! Then review! Please! :)
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Hermione's POV
She watched in silence as the white-blonde man's body was dumped onto the wheelbarrow along with dozens of others and slowly carried away. The rickety wheels of the wooden transportation device thumped along, bouncing the bodies it carried up and down as it traveled over the discarded rubble and debris, the result of a war. As it clattered over a particularly large rock, the man's body fell off the wheelbarrow, landing with a hollow thump on the ground. His silvery-blonde hair splayed out on the ground, and Hermione's heart strained at his blank, pale face.
Should she feel so terrible for this dead man? Did he deserve his fate? Her first answer, like many other's, would be yes. He did. But on a second, more deeper thought, she realized he didn't. Not really. He had changed for the better, it had just been too late.
Not wanting to look at him any longer, she tore her eyes from his lifeless body, her heart giving a little pang when she saw her innocent husband talking to Harry. Just a few hours after the final battle, and they were already conversing on what to do now. She approached them, interrupting their conversation. Without words, she grabbed her husband's sleeve and took him to the man's body.
His face turned from the joyous expression of victory to one of disbelief and sorrow. She wrapped her arms around her husband as a single tear fell down his face, betraying the vow he had once told her: "I never cry."
She pulled him tight against her as his body shook violently. Water droplets from both eyes fell, staining the floor around the dead man. They stayed there, in a silent embrace, for three full minutes. She felt awful for him, awful for her, awful for everyone who felt the losses that they did now.
Slowly, he released her, wiping the last of his tears from his eyes. He looked at her, and she nodded. He knelt down and gently scooped the body from the floor, then stood. Solemnly, the walked out of the dilapidated building, facing the bright sunlight outside that seemed, at that moment, to taunt them.
She wrapped her cloak tighter around her newborn baby daughter, not wanting her to catch a cold. Her husband took out his wand and knelt in front of the gravestone, where they had buried the man two years earlier. Under his breath, he murmured a few words, and the gravestone of his father now read:
Lucius Malfoy
1954-2009
Beloved Father and Grandfather
Then he stood and wrapped his arms around his wife. They stood still, in silence, for three full minutes, just like they had done precisely two years ago.