New Cover by Nora Fares! She's as talented at creating designs and writing stories as Hermione is at learning new spells!
Hermione sat at home, waiting for her parents to return from their work. She had come home mid term for this occasion and it tore her apart, that she hadn't come in time. She had been too late for her loyal friend.
When the first signs about her friend's sickness had become obvious, she had decided to go back to Hogwarts on her own. She had thought that her loyal friend just needed some rest. Hermione had told herself that she only needed to be patient, let him stay in a warm and comfortable home where he was mothered like a little babe and he would soon join her in her beloved castle again. Her parents had promised to take good care of her friend. They had reassured her that they would soon be reunited, had told her to be patient.
Hermione had been patient, but still she had written every week to make sure he was alright. She had asked her mother to read her letters to him, knowing that her friend would be able to comprehend that Hermione wanted to be close to him, that she was sorry that she had to leave him behind. He had always understood her, he had always been there for her.
He had been there until the last letter had arrived.
Hermione had known that his time was nearing. She had known it for a long while she supposed, but it didn't occur to her how fast things would progress.
Hermione had planned a visit for the weekend when the last letter of her parents had arrived informing her about the bad state her friend was in. She had scheduled a meeting with Professor McGonagall and gotten the permission to use a Portkey Professor Flitwick had crafted for her personally to go home on Friday afternoon.
Her parents had been prepared for her visit and they had prepared her as well. They had written a long letter about his condition and what Hermione was to expect when she would come home.
On that day, when Hermione could finally leave the last of her lessons she ran up to her room and pulled out her neatly packed bag that had been ready for days. She didn't even waste the time to say goodbye to her friends, but left immediately.
When she made her way through the castle, dodging the students who cheerily welcomed, the weekend she was looking forward to finally be united with her loyal friend again.
"Are you finally leaving this place for good, Mudblood?" Malfoy blocked her way when he spotted her moving towards the Entrance Hall, but she ignored him and shouldered past him and his cronies. He could wait, Hermione decided. "I hope you never return!" she heard Malfoy shout after her. She'd be able to give that bigoted prat a piece of her mind when she returned, when she knew that her friend was alright.
The witch was relieved when she finally reached the gates of Hogwarts' grounds. She took out the little origami crane Professor Flitwick had handed her. Hermione breathed in deeply before she tapped it with her wand and felt the sudden jerk behind her navel, pulling her into the depths of the ether to spit her out on a small playground down the street from her house.
Hermione felt nauseous while she made her way towards her birthplace on shaky legs. The driveway was empty of their family car so her parents must still be at work. Hermione retrieved the house key hidden behind a loose brick under their letterbox and let herself into the quiet house.
Inside it felt eerie, missing the presence of her family. It was missing the presence of her friend as well. Hermione pushed the door shut and leaned against it to listen for familiar sounds of feather light steps or faint snores, but it stayed silent. The stillness of the house felt like a heavy pressure on her ears and she began to slowly move through the house, walking into every room and looking into every corner. Hermione already knew that she wouldn't find anything. She already knew that her loyal friend wasn't here anymore. He was gone.
When her parents arrived an hour later they found their daughter at the dinner table looking out at the garden where the grass was already covered by colourful autumn leaves.
Her mother gingerly took a seat next to her and took Hermione's hand into hers. "He's left us yesterday, darling. We couldn't wait any longer. He was suffering," her mother explained in a quiet voice.
Mr Granger stood in the door awkwardly, leaving the talking to his wife. "We had to bring him to the doctor, to relieve him from his pain," she told her daughter who just nodded.
After a while of heavy silence they left Hermione to sit on her own. She didn't cry then. There were no tears and there were no thoughts, just images of falling autumn leaves, covering the wet grass and painting the garden in pretty orange colours.
Later, when it had already turned dark outside, she asked her parents where he was buried, but they refused her last request, telling her she didn't want to know. That was when the fury set in. They had betrayed her. They had killed him when they knew she was coming for him. They had known that she would be saying goodbye before he had to leave. And now they didn't even tell her where she could leave her useless goodbyes. They wouldn't let her reunite with her loyal friend for that last time. They had broken Hermione's last promise to him to always look out for him and be there when he would need her.
She stayed at home that weekend, alone in her room and when her parents went out for a short walk Hermione went out into their garden and searched it for a grave she didn't even knew existed at all. She never found it so she just sat on the dying leaves, leaning against the maple tree that her parents had planted after her birth and silently bid her loyal friend goodbye. She picked on orange leaves and smelling their aromatic decay in the cool, wet air around her.
Hermione stayed longer than she was allowed to stay. Nobody came to retrieve her back to school so she assumed her parents had written a letter to Professor McGonagall excusing her absence. She really didn't care at that moment.
On Tuesday Hermione woke up, feeling hungrier than ever. She had refused to sit with her parents the evening before to have dinner.
The curly haired witch trotted down the stairs realizing that it was already midday when she glanced at the living room clock. She made herself a sandwich and was glad when she found a note from her mother giving her a task to occupy her mind with. Hermione pocketed the attached bank notes and retrieved a shopping bag before she left the house, clothed in some of her old Muggle clothing that she still stored in her old room at her parent's home.
Hermione went to the nearby super market and took a cart that she filled with the items on her mother's shopping list. She stopped to check if she had everything her parents needed, ticking off the list in her head. When she confirmed that her list was completed, she looked up to orientate and look for the checkouts.
Only then she realized which aisle she had pushed the cart into to avoid standing in the way of too many people. She stared at the rows of brightly coloured food cans until she felt faint.
Hermione shook her head and resolutely pushed the cart towards the checkouts.
She was relieved to see that only one old lady was waiting to pay in the row in front of her and when Hermione finally left the supermarket she sucked in the fresh air. The witch quickly returned to her family home. She filled the fridge with the bought items, before she ran up the stairs. In her room Hermione threw her clothes into her bag carelessly and left without a backwards glance.
She was glad that the Portkey wasn't limited to a certain date or time and she made quick business of tapping it with her wand. The witch nearly felt like vomiting, when she was pulled back to the Hogwarts' gates. Hermione breathed heavily and had to lean on her knees until she finally could see straight again.
Hermione didn't really register how she walked up to the castle and up the endless steps to the Gryffindor common room. She only knew that when she finally reached it she was too tired to go any further. Instead of moving on to her dorm room the girl settled on a couch in front of the fireplace.
It was still early enough for all the students being in their classes so it was blissfully quiet. But slowly students started to fill the room around Hermione and she tried to focus on the roaring fire, licking at the tinder with bright orange flames.
Hermione was pulled out of her reverie, when Harry found her. He quietly cast a spell that cancelled out all the noise in the room replacing it with a faint hum that soothed her nerves.
"You're back," he observed and took a seat next to her.
She wanted to tell Harry, wanted to get these words out of her mouth and out of her brain so desperately, but it was hard speaking around the heavy lump in her throat.
"He's dead, Harry," Hermione finally managed.
Her friend said nothing and only hugged her to his chest. She felt heavy and drained and suddenly the tears she hadn't been able to bring forth the last days quelled out of her eyes as she wept.
"He is dead and I couldn't even say goodbye. He was dead before I was the-ere. I couldn't… couldn't even g-g-go through the blood-dy aisle with p-pet food in the supermarket, Harry," she hiccupped.
Hermione cried bitterly and her friend held her tightly to his chest. Afterwards, when the tears dried up and the sorrow was a light, muffling blanket on her thoughts, her head rested on Harrys shoulder as she stared into the fire. Hermione watched the flames dance and she remembered her loyal friend dance, trying to catch reflections of sunlight shining through the canopy of trees. She remembered her Crookshanks, a bright orange spot in her life.
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I recently lost my own cat so this is kind of therapeutic. I know that self-inserts aren't very popular but I still wanted to publish this one shot.