"It's just earth. It's just dirt," Severus Snape said coldly.

"Have some emotion!" Hermione pleaded. "It's his grave!" She didn't yell; she didn't even raise her voice above a whisper. A soft, pleading, emotional whisper.

It was sunset. The sky was filled with every color from red to blue to yellow and everything blended in between. The pair stood on a gravesite. The grey headstone stared at them like it was just stone sticking out from the ground and not really the marker that showed where one of their old friends was buried. They were surrounded by their old friends' gravesites in a cemetery that was made for them. Just for them.

"It's just earth, Hermione; they are no longer with us. He's no longer with you." He turned away from the tombstone and looked over at her. She still stared at the headstone with tears on her eyes. Tears were in her eyes, but he noticed that not one had fallen. She was always stronger than she looked. "Hermione, it is only dirt. Their body may be below our feet, but their souls, their very beings is not. You have grieved, now move on."

"Severus," she said as she turned towards him. The tears were more predominate when she stared at him. "I can't. They are here. This is--"

"No, Hermione. They are gone." Without warning, he grabbed her shoulders and shook her. It wasn't a gentle shake. It was as if he was trying to shake some sense into her. "They are gone!"

She shook her head franticly. "No!" Tears fell from her eyes then. She collapsed against him. She seemed so broken, so weak. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

"Yes," he whispered soothingly. "You know they are gone." She seemed to sink farther into his chest, trying to get as close as possible.

"No," she still denied. She may seem broken, but she tried to fight the inevitable.

"They're gone," he repeated with a cold voice as he held her. "This is just dirt. It's just earth."

He felt her break. He felt her small amount of composure vanish. She went rigid, and then she suddenly fall onto him fully. Her knees seemed to collapse under her and she started to fall to the ground. He backed away and let her fall.

She fell on her knees on the gravesite. He stared down at her, but didn't feel an ounce of disgust for her sad state. He had the urge to pull the girl from the ground and hold her again, but he didn't allow himself.

Hermione seemed to change before his eyes. The broken girl who had fallen to her knees just stared at the headstone. Tears running down her face, she looked at the ground then back at the headstone. Severus saw her lips move as she said the name to herself, but she didn't say it loud enough for him to hear.

"He's gone, Severus." She looked up at him through her tears. "No magic can bring him back." She took a vial out of her pocket and threw it on the ground. It didn't shatter as it landed, only rolled away from her. It stopped at Severus's feet.

"Hermione... a potion? Don't tell me you were..." He picked up the vial as he stared at the girl in surprise.

"I miss them so much," she whispered in her defense. Breaking down once again, she changed positions so she could wrap her arms around her legs and cry again.

"Hermione..." When she continued to cry, he demanded, "Hermione look at me!" She pulled back and looked up at him and the vial, but she didn't responded. "Magic doesn't fix everything! You know that! You can get so mixed up in dark arts that you can forget who you are. Your heart, your soul, your goodness. You could become... someone, something else. They wouldn't want that." When the tears began to fall faster again, he knelt down in front of her. With her watching, he opened the vial and poured it on the ground. "The potion is now where it belongs. Back in the earth. Part of the earth. Like they are."

She uncurled and wrapped his arms around his neck, falling into him. "Severus, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry..." He stroked her hair and didn't say a word.