Be safe.
Those were her last words. Those were the words she spoke to me before we went to join the rest of our friends and the Order in the fight against the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort.
But she never made it. She never came back safe, as I did for her.
As soon as the words that I had feared to hear left Professor McGonagall's mouth, I went out to search for her.
I found her, by the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, away from the rest of the bodies of those that had fallen.
She was lying on her back, her eyes wide open, dulled from the life that had lived in them for as long as I'd known her. Her mouth was open in a silent scream of pain, and I felt the guilt grow at the pit of my stomach for not hearing her, for not saving her before it was too late.
My hand reached out to touch her face, and I closed her eyes and mouth, making it look like she was in a deep sleep if it wasn't for her blue lips and pale complexion.
A tear fell down on her already tear-stained face and I fell down on my knees, not able to hold my weight anymore. As I lightly traced the shape of her lips, that had ones been warm and soft, now instead cold and chapped, I finally understood that she wouldn't come back, and the last of my hope quenched, and more tears began to fall.
I sat there until there were no more tears to cry, and until dusk, and the shadows grew, at the same time as the shadows around my heart intensified, until everything turned black. I knew I should let her go, and go back to the others, but I couldn't bring myself to leave her, knowing that when I did, it would be the end. It would be at that moment that she would disappear for real.
A hand settled on my shoulder and I looked up to see a pair of hazel brown eyes belonging to Ginny Weasley gazing back at me, and I couldn't help but compare them with her chocolate brown eyes, and how they sparkled in the sun or how the corners crinkled when she laughed. I turned back to the body of the woman I had learned to love, and I felt tears began to well up in my eyes again.
"Harry?"
I ignored the voice, not wanting to be ripped away from my love.
"Harry, you need to let her go."
I looked up again, before turning back to the body and then up again. I knew the right thing would be to stand up and walk away, but my heart wanted to stay there, until I could join her where ever she was right now.
"Hermione wouldn't have wanted you to be like this." Her name caused my heart to burn with pain, and I gasped softly at the feeling, before, finally standing up, letting her body fall down gently on the soft grass.
Be happy, be safe.
Her voice carried away with the wind, and I stared at the sky, watching as the stars twinkled high above, but one of them stood out more than the others, and I couldn't help but think it was her, watching down over me, until I would join her.
"I will, until we meet again." I whispered softly, taking Ginny's offered hand and walking away, not glancing backwards once, knowing that when the time was right, I would once again be with her.