A/N: Although it may appear to be this is not, I repeat NOT, an H/Hr story. Harry and Hermione are simply platonic.

Disclaimer: Hmmm, if Harry was mine…well no point in dreaming that because he's all JKR's…mutters dammit.

Getting Over It

It had been two years or so since Harry had been to the Burrow, and now that he was back he just wanted to leave. Of course, it was this summer, when all he wanted to do was mope, that he was permitted to leave the Dursley's early. Instead of being able to throw his self-pitying self into chores for his aunt, he had to pretend to being having fun with the Weasleys and Hermione. Which he was, but he really wasn't into it.

So now it was after dinner and he had gotten a moment to sneak out to be alone. He was balancing on the fence, his feet hooked under the rung below the one he was sitting on. The stars were just coming out even though a red band of sunlight could be seen just above the horizon. He, although he would not admit it to himself, was waiting for the Dog Star to appear. It was the first time he had decided to look for it and he didn't even know if it came out in the summer. Or what part of the sky it would be in. Still, it was nice to be out on his own for a bit.

"Harry?" So much for being alone. Harry turned, keeping balanced by holding the rail on either side. Hermione was walking towards him, her bushy hair for once pulled back into a tight bun. She still wore the pale blue sundress she had donned for her and Ginny's shopping trip in Muggle London earlier that day. Harry suspected that she had kept it on because Ron's jaw had dropped when he had seen her this morning.

"Yah. What's up?"

"Oh, I was just looking for you. The clock just changed again so it was a bit tense in there. I'd thought I'd leave them for a bit," Hermione said, glancing back towards the house.

Harry thought of the mortal peril spot on the clock, "Whose hand is it this time?"

"Charlie."

"Again?" It was the third time since Harry and Hermione had arrived at the Burrow that Charlie had been in danger. Romania was far away, but it seemed as though Charlie was always in fights of some kind. Maybe it was not Death Eaters this time, but dragons thought Harry. Dragons were a bit less ominous, though still just as deadly.

Hermione nodded and climbed up on the fence next to Harry. She sat silently, watching the sky with Harry. "So what are you doing out here?"

Sighing, Harry answered, "Thinking, I reckon."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Not particularly, no," Harry said calmly. He readjusted himself, carefully unhooking his jeans from a snag on the fence. It was quiet for a few more minutes, just the wind blowing between the two and birds chirping in the last seconds before everything went dark with night.

"You know, with everything wizards can do, don't you think it's odd that death is still a reality? It seems that magic should just be able to make it disappear, and people could be alive forever," she trailed off, and they both knew she wasn't really talking about death in general, or even the possibility of Charlie dying, but about the storm cloud that had been hanging over Harry's head for the last month or so: Sirius. She had been trying to talk to Harry about it since they got out of school but Ron still kept thwarting her every time she started.

"Death is but the next great adventure, Hermione," Harry quoted Dumbledore glumly.

"I suppose. But, it's just so…unfair. Like, after they've gone, what are we supposed to do?"

Harry shrugged, caught between wanting to pour out his feelings about missing Sirius and telling Hermione to stop and that Charlie would be perfectly all right. Hermione would buy that he was stupid enough to think they were still talking about the second-born Weasley. He compromised by addressing the issue vaguely by saying, "I guess we go on as if it didn't happen."

"But it did happen, we all know it did."

"Look, Hermione, I've lost my parents and I've lost Sirius now, too," Harry gasped a bit as he said Sirius' name, for it was the first time he had spoken it aloud in awhile. He continued though, finding that it was not so hard to talk about this as he had thought it would have been, "You can't sit and stew. You just have to get over it."

Hermione was quiet again and then Harry heard her sniffle, "How do you 'get over it?' I've been trying so hard to, and I just can't. You're not the only one who misses him, Harry."

Harry looked down his nose at Hermione, her shoulders curling in as tears slipped down her sun-freckled face. And then it suddenly dawned on him. He was not alone; he was not the only one dealing with Sirius being gone. He hugged her, making her start with surprise. Nevertheless, she turned her head into his shoulder and continued to cry a little.

"I know it is going to get worse, but I just can't stand the thought of anyone else dying. You, my parents, my sister, Ginny…"

"Ron?"

Harry could tell she was blushing a bit as she answerer, "Yah, I'd be sad if Ron died."

Harry smiled. If Ron died Hermione would be devastated, he knew that, but he just wanted her to admit it. Several minutes later they heard a cheer come from the house meaning the clock must have changed again.

"CHARLIE'S ALL RIGHT!" Ron bellowed from the back door. Then noticing his friends sitting on the fence looking rather sad he began to cross the yard to talk to them, "All right, mates?"

"Oh, yah, we're fine," Hermione said leaning back from Harry and wiping her eyes on the back of her wrists. Ron glanced at Harry.

"Yah, you always, cry when you're fine," said Ron.

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine. Drop it, Ron," Hermione said snippily. Harry could tell she was trying to cover up for him, suspecting he did not want to talk about Sirius anymore.

Taking a deep breath, Harry said, "We were just talking about Sirius." Ron and Hermione looked at him, stunned. They had not expected him to be so blunt.

"Oh," Ron said, intelligent as always.

"Yah," Harry muttered, looking away. It was getting easier to talk about Sirius, but Ron's reaction was not the most helpful.

Then Ron spoke again, "I miss him."

"So do we," Harry and Hermione spoke in unison, causing all three to smile.

"Harry was just imparting his knowledge of 'getting over it' to me. Care to join us, Ron?"

"Sure," Ron took a seat on the ground below Harry and Hermione's perches and quipped, "Oh great master, tell us your wisdom."

Harry grinned at his friends. Leave it to Ron to bring the humor and make them all feel better. Well, he might as well tell them what he had learned so far, "First, never, ever mope and cry over photo albums…"

As they sat there, learning to get over it, they did not even realize that the Dog Star shown down brightly on them, winking much like the man named after it would have.

A/N: Just a note that this story takes place at the very end of June, right before Sirius disappears for the rest of the summer due to a block by the sun. Please Review!