The Long Road Home
Hermione pulled her thinning coat tighter around her frail body; it seemed she had been wandering around for decades, seeing the same faces, walking the same streets. It had been three years, three long and cold years since she had watched as her best friends and boyfriend were killed in front of her. She tried to stop it but she couldn't get there in time, she was never fond of flying. None died in vain; the world was brighter, no longer overshadowed by the dark force that was Voldemort.
Her life on the other hand was still covered in a thick veil, and so she continued to wander aimlessly – and that's when she saw it, where it began -- where it ended. The gates of Hogwarts stood open, no longer needed to ward off danger, she stood on the dirt path for an hour before she gathered the courage to walk to the doors and come back home. All this time she had been running away from the place she needed to be the most, dragging her hand on the rough stone interior she wandered the halls, vivid memories of her childhood greeting her with every step.
She found herself at the end of a corridor with a single door in front of her; timidly turning the knob she let herself in, and knew that this was exactly where she was meant to be. There was a thin film of dust covering every surface there was an object covered in a large white sheet. Quickly flicking her wrist the dust vanished with the sheet and she walked towards the mirror. Her hand fluttered to the glass where she outlined the faces of those she missed the most – Harry – Ron – Ginny.
One week later, that's where she was found, just as Dumbledore warned Harry all those years ago, wasted away in front of the mirror. Lifting her softly from the floor, he walked slowly to the Hospital Wing where he laid her in a bed while her funeral preparations were made. Her funeral was nowhere near as grand as it should have been, she was a war hero, but that's what war does, takes all those who love us away. That day she was laid to rest between her two boys, right where she belonged, the golden trio together again.