Title: Mirror of the Wise
Summary: Hermione Weasley née Granger likes to reflect on her own youth as she watches the next generation begin their own journey. DH and Epilogue compliant.
W/C: 330 words
Status: Complete
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related characters belong to JKR and to those who have purchased rights over the work from her. This is a work of non-profit fan-fiction and is in no way associated with the formerly mentioned and/or implied right holders. This was written for personal enrichment and posted for the enjoyment of fellow fans.
A/N: Interpret as you wish.
Mirror of the Wise
The day was cool but warm winds blew in from the water. In a few hours the students would arrive and the first years would take the boats across the waters. The breeze tossed stray strands of hair against her face. She closed her eyes and looked back to earlier that day.
The steam from the express was hot against her face and she had a hard time of making anything out. She saw him and nodded in his direction a good while before Harry and Ginny arrived with theirs. She didn't feel the need to share with Ron as there was no love lost between any of them even if they all had kids of their own now.
She couldn't help but wonder at the many ways their lives could have been lost over their school years and how maybe if she wasn't so absorbed in her own problems, some of them had been quite petty, she could have seen the hurt in others more clearly. Perhaps she could have seen the subtler things. Made enough of a difference to save some of those lives lost.
That's what brought her here to see the grave of her headmaster one last time. To thank him for his wisdom and his sacrifice. To vow to do everything in her power to keep it from happening again. Most importantly to come to terms with the fact that the war didn't end just because the fighting stopped.
Most of the world worked hard to get over the tragedy. Meanwhile, those that had remade the order of the phoenix remained ever vigilant for the signs of the next would-be dark-lord. Fate had done them enough favors already and they doubted they'd be twice so lucky.
The time would come for them to rise from the ashes to save the world from itself once more but she would not live to see her labors come to fruition. At least, not as Hermione Weasley née Granger.