Disclaimer: I dreamt last night that I was J.K. Rowling and owned Harry Potter and everything connected to it. However, I woke up this morning and realized that it had all been a dream, and suddenly, I went from being the happiest person in the world back to the depressed, angsty teenager that I am.

WALKING BACK

By ice blue

Chapter I: Graduation

The Great Hall was silent. It was the Commencement ceremony of the seventh years, and Dumbledore had just announced a speech to be given by the top student of the year and head girl, Hermione Granger.

Hermione stepped up to the podium and took a deep breath. She had stayed up really late the previous night trying to think of the right things to say.

"Seven years. I've spent seven years in this school, yet it seems like only yesterday that I came here for the first time on the Hogwarts Express. I remember my first few months here very clearly: nobody liked me much then. I had huge hair and an even huger personality defect. I thought I was the best thing to happen to Hogwarts when, in fact, Hogwarts was the best thing that happened to me.

"The past seven years have been… well, much better than I ever hoped for. As most of you know, I am Muggle-born, and when I got that letter saying I had been accepted into Hogwarts, well- a whole world just opened up to me. Little did I imagine when I was a kid that someday I would be turning buttons into beetles and flying on a broom! Not that I was ever really good at that.

"I learned loads of things from my teachers. I appreciate now, although I didn't then, all the papers, assignments and lectures we all had to endure. I've also had experiences here, good and bad, which I wouldn't forget for anything. There has been joy and sorrow, excitement and fear.

"But more important than all the academics are my friends. My friends, who have always been there for me. Friends with whom I've shared so much…and created bonds with which cannot be broken by death or dark lords. Friends who'd give up their lives for me, and for whom I know I'd give up my life for.

"These are the blessings that Hogwarts have left me. Although it is with sadness that I leave this school, I know that it has given me the most precious gift I'll ever get. I'm about to begin a new life, and all that I've learned here will certainly help me out there.

"This is our last time to walk the halls of this beloved castle as Hogwarts students. Tomorrow we board the Hogwarts Express, and head towards the future. We don't know what will happen to us. Some of us may come back here to teach, or visit, and some of us might never see Hogwarts again. But we can hope that the ties we have formed among us stay strong throughout our lives, and the memory of Hogwarts forever remains undimmed in our hearts."

She stopped speaking and stepped back from the podium, not even hearing the applause that filled the Great Hall. Instead she looked over at the Students seated at the four house tables: people she had come to know over the years. Their faces all seemed familiar and dear somehow, and she looked at them, trying to drink in the way they looked just then, and keep the image in her mind forever.

At the Slytherin table Draco Malfoy scowled up at her, as he always did, but did she sense sadness in that scowl? He too had shared in many of their adventures, and, though conflicting history had preventing them from getting close to each other, but she felt that, if it were possible, they could've been friends.

Her own table, the Gryffindor table, was noisy and happy as usual, but the seventh years were slightly subdued, as if depressed by the thought that this was their last feast in the Great Hall. Lavender and Parvati had tears in their eyes, and Seamus and Dean were obviously trying to keep their own down. Neville was just staring into his bowl, seemingly unaware of the fact that tears were streaming down his cheeks.

Ginny was talking with Colin Creevey. Hermione caught the clear tinkle of her laughter over the din in the hall. Ginny's lucky she's only in sixth year, she thought. She'll be coming back in September. But us… Harry, Ron and I…

As if catching her thought Harry caught her eye and smiled. He wasn't crying, but his green eyes shone strangely bright that night. Harry Potter, the Boy who Lived… when Hermione had read his life story, back before coming to Hogwarts, little had she known that soon he would be one of her best friends in the whole world. Someone so great, so famous… even when they had first met she had been awed by him. But after seven years spent together, she had come to realize that beyond all that fame was a normal boy, craving a normal life. Unfortunately his past hadn't exactly permitted that.

Harry was probably the single person in the entire world to whom she could tell everything. All her problems, fears, complaints- she could tell him. It was to him to whom she had run when she failed her first exam back in fifth year. But although everyone said they were perfect for each other- the most famous wizard and the smartest witch in their year- Hermione had never really felt that way about him, and she knew that, though he loved her, he didn't feel that way about her either.

But Ron, on the other hand…

Where had that thought come from?

Hermione looked at Ron, who was seated beside Harry. He was talking to Seamus and Chris, a sixth-year boy. His red hair was messy and tousled, and suddenly she felt an irresistible urge to run her hands through that hair. She shook herself. She was over Ron.

There was a time, in their fourth or fifth year, when she had thought that Ron liked her. As in, like liked her. And at the time she found herself thinking that she liked him too. She thought she saw all the signs- his jealousy over Viktor Krum, the lengths of detentions he had had to endure whenever he got into a violent fight with Malfoy for calling Hermione a Mudblood. She thought, too, that he had been on the verge of telling her sometimes. But I guess I was wrong, she had thought. In time, she had moved on. She treated that phase as just that- a passing phase.

But was it really?

She remembered times, after she had decided she was 'over' it, when she found herself wishing, again, that she could know what Ron really thought about her. She remembered dreams she had had. Dreams that she didn't ask for but just came in the night and surprised her. There were certain things about him- his smile, his freckles- that sometimes during the holidays or late at night, she just wanted to see for no reason at all. And from their years in Hogwarts she remembered numerous moments which would have required a long, late-night conversation with Harry to fix, but a single sentence from Ron could make it all better.

I still love him.

She had never known that she loved him. But at that moment she knew, beyond a doubt, that she loved him. And tomorrow they would have to say goodbye…

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Hermione alighted from the Hogwarts Express at King's Cross station for the last time.

The last time ever, she thought, depressed. It all seemed so final.

With a whistle the train pulled away, on its way back to Hogsmeade, leaving Hermione, Harry and Ron standing with all their baggage, surrounded by the rest of the Hogwarts population.

The younger students were all joyfully saying their goodbyes, greeting their families. There were shouts of "Be sure to visit me!" and "See you next year!" They drove away with the secure knowledge that they would be seeing each other again next school year.

The older students were saying longer, more tearful farewells. Unlike the younger ones, they didn't know where the coming September would find them.

"Well," Harry said. Hermione looked at him. Ron was playing with a stone with his foot. He seemed absorbed in it.

"Well… I guess I'll see you two around. We should… we should make plans."

"Yes!" Hermione chimed in. "Just because we're not in school anymore doesn't mean we have to drift apart! We could still see each other every day if we tried."

Ron spoke for the first time. "It's not that easy, Hermione. You're the one who's going to Greece."

Hermione started. How had she forgotten about Greece?

"Well, I'll come back for vacations and stuff. And it's not a permanent thing. I could move back, you know. Why don't we get together this week? Before I leave and before Harry goes on that America thing with Sirius."

"Can't," Ron said. "Mum and Dad have this trip thing planned- to Egypt. We're going to visit Bill there. Can't make it any later this summer, so we leave tomorrow."

Hermione's heart dropped. She hadn't realized that they'd all take off in different directions as they did every summer, except this time, there'd be no more September to see each other again. And they couldn't exactly visit each other much this summer, because they'd all be busy with their new lives…

"You remember how to use a telephone, Ron? Well, I'll just give you a ring soon. You too, Hermione." Absorbed in her thoughts, Hermione hadn't realized that Harry had picked up his bags. "You're leaving?" She asked numbly. He nodded.

"Yup. Sirius is here to pick me up. He's got my new, uh…car waiting. He insisted on giving me one as a graduation present…Well, bye then."

The three of them stood awkwardly for a minute, then Hermione threw her arms around Harry. She held him tightly, her tears falling unto his jacket, until she finally let go.

"Sorry about the jacket, Harry," she said, a trifle embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it, Herm," he assured her. He looked at Ron, and, quite shockingly, gave him a brief hug, slapping him on the back. "See ya, Ron."

Ron mumbled something, and Harry began to walk away. Hermione watched him until he was just a speck in the distance.

She turned her eyes to Ron. He was still looking down.

"I guess this is goodbye, Ron… for now."

"Yeah," he said. He finally looked up, straight into her eyes. She was surprised to see tears in his blue eyes, and felt a sudden rush of tenderness.

"I'm sure we can find a way to see each other again. Maybe when you get back, and Harry's back from America, you can owl me and I'll catch a trip home… or we can all arrange to meet up in some exotic, foreign land…"

She gave a shrill laugh.

"I'm being silly, aren't I?"

Ron shook his head. He looked at her for a long time, a strange look in his eyes.

"I'll miss you, 'Mione," he finally said.

That was all she needed. The floodgates on her eyes were opened, and her tears came quickly and unstoppingly. She closed her eyes, trying to squeeze out all her scared thoughts. She stood there for a while, then suddenly felt a pair of strong arms around her.

"It's okay, 'Mione, it's okay," he said softly. She could feel his voice in her hair. He continued to reassure her, running his hand up and down her back. They just stood there, supporting each other, trying to draw the strength to face the future.

Finally they stepped apart. Her face was filled with tears, but then again so was his.

In the background she could hear her mum's voice calling to her, but right now all her attention was focused on Ron.

She was absolutely sure now of how she felt. She was also sure he felt it too. She had felt this way for years- for almost as long as she had known him, she thought. Was this it? Was she just going to walk away from this, from all that the seven years spent together had built up for them? Was he?

"I think I see my dad, and Fred and George," he said, breaking into her thoughts. "I've got to go. I'll keep in touch. Take care, 'Mione," in a single quick move, he bent down and gave her a kiss on the lips. In an instant it was over and she was looking at his retreating back.

I guess he is.

Sill in a daze, Hermione picked up her bag and turned her back to his, wondering for all she was worth why she was walking away.

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A/N: If you've had the patience to read this through till the end, (it's long for a chapter) I thank you! It's very much appreciated, and reviews will be even more appreciated. If you've got any comments about my work, then please, please do review, but I warn you that if you flame me, I'm not going to take any notice of it, so there's really no point. And if I get feedback I'll continue the story (with shorter chapters, I promise!) I've sort of got a hazy idea already of what's going to happen. Let me know if you have any comments or suggestions or anything! Feel free to email them to me. Okay, so I've taken up so much space with my weird rambling. I'll go now. G'night!