Chapter one: Numb
The fighting had stopped. At long last. There had been many casualties, although the castle looked like the Shrieking Shack, clawed, bitten and ravaged with savage bloodlust, it was a relief to finally be free of the violence and destruction. She was walking around, surveying the damage, while the other mourned for the lost, who died so bravely.
Hermione Granger walked up the steps to her dormitory, glancing about as she went. Even here, in Gryffindor Tower, there was blood spilled and spirits broken. It was okay, though.
She was used to it by now.
Hermione closed her eyes. She felt numb, cold, hopeless. Lost was the fire that had driven her to the point where she was standing now. She knew she should be rejoicing, the world was finally free of Voldemort's evil. She didn't know why she felt this way, except that it was total bliss. There were no more feelings clouding her eyes and she felt that she could finally be alone, to mourn, to think. Except she couldn't. There were no more pestering thoughts about Voldemort or Horcruxes. Just blank, cold, empty, bliss. And Lord, it felt nice.
Who knew being empty could feel so good?
Hermione finally stopped in front of her the door to her room, which she had shared with three other girls. She couldn't even bring herself to hate her former roommate, Lavender Brown. Wasn't it ironic? She swept her eyes over the door, looking for anything different. It looked the same, surrounded by debris and blood. She laughed to herself bitterly. No, it didn't. When she looked at it closely, she saw numerous scratches. House-elves.
With cold fingers, she reached out to grasp the brass door knob. Funny, it felt almost warm under her deathly fingers, so cold she was. She turned opened the door and stepped inside.
Crunch.
Surprised at the sudden noise in the eerie silence, Hermione looked down. The Basilisk skull was half-crushed under her foot. She stared at it, perplexed. The Basilisk skull was with Ron, wasn't it? She saw he and Harry leave the hall with it. But then…
She looked up, and met the stricken gazes of Ron Weasley and Lavender Brown.
Hermione just stood there. Her supposedly impassive eyes shifted between the faces of the half naked couple on the bed.
Because that's what they were weren't they? A couple. She felt her mouth open, form words incoherent to her, but apparently Ron and Brown understood. She didn't know, didn't feel anything. It was like she was another person, watching with detached interest from far away.
From a distance, she heard herself say, "Goodbye, Ron." She turned and fled the room. She wasn't even aware of Ron crying out to her, begging her to stay and let him explain. She wasn't aware of anything, she just ran, she ran through the portrait hole, through the castle and until she was in front of the familiar blank wall that hid the Room of Requirement.
A/N
Hello, you lovely people who has just read what I wrote. :D
I would just like to tell you, this is my first Harry Potter fic. I thought of this in school (Maths, blegh!) and it was originally a one-shot, but I wanted to see if it would work first. :)
Anywho, review! :D I love reviews, it makes my day. :)
Go on, click that little button down there... ;)