From the castle, you can hear cheering. Everyone is celebrating.
Why wouldn't they? The Dark Lord is gone.
They can be happy again.
The Boy Who Lived lived once again.
But outside of the castle, a girl sat.
Her hair swings as she sobs.
She sits all alone on the stairs to the Main Entrance at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, well at least what's left of it.
Most of the school is broken.
The girl is all alone.
No-one's shoulder to cry on.
The one person's shoulder she wants to cry against isn't with her anymore.
She wants to celebrate with everyone else.
But there isn't a single spark of happiness to be found in her.
Her heart is broken.
And so is she.
She picks up a stone and throws it away.
And then she throws one more, and then another one and another and another.
She buries her face in her arms.
Her whole body shakes as she cries.
She sits there for hours and hours. No-one comes to comfort her. They are too busy celebrating to notice, a little crying girl.
A man's outline becomes visible behind her. He sits down next to her. He lays his arm around her and she rests her head against his shoulder.
So they sit, for almost an hour, before the man starts to talk.
"I love you," he says.
The girl looks up at the man sitting next to her.
"I love you, too" She whispers.
"He loved you too," the man says quietly.
The girl looks up at the man again.
"I knew for a long time" The man whispers, "He was in love with you"
The girl starts to sob again.
"Hermione," The man says and takes her face in his hands.
Hermione looks up into the eyes of the guy she trusts with her life, one of her best friends. And the best friend of the guy who's gone.
"It hurts, Harry" She whispers and buries her face in his neck, scootching onto his lap "It physically hurts" She lays her arms around his neck.
"I know" Harry whispers and puts his arms around her, "It does"
"Make it go away" Hermione sobs, "Now"
Harry just buries his head in her hair.
"I want him back" he heard Hermione's weak voice, "I want to hug him," she says with a cracking voice, "One last time"
Harry hugs her harder and lets out a low sob.
The War Heroin and The Boy Who Lived sits on the stairs for hours, crying.
You can think that The Boy Who Lived would be happy, he lived once again, he defeated the Dark Lord. But he survived.
He made it out.
Maybe he had been a fool thinking that all his friends would make it out.
But being foolish like that is hope.
Hope is the light in the dark.
But it can also be the darkness in the light.
You can't turn back the clock.
"He was too late" Hermione whispers into his shirt.
"What?" Harry says.
"Neville" Hermione takes a deep breath, "He came too late. The snake was chasing us. And he was too late" She lets out a loud sob, "The snake- It- it - ... And-" She bursts out crying again. "He tried to save me from it," She says after a few minutes, "He jumped in front of me. He- he sacrificed himself"
Harry couldn't bear hearing this. This was almost more painful than seeing his parents getting murdered. It felt like a thousand knives were being thrown into his heart and lungs.
He felt so alone.
He had everyone to talk to.
He had the students of Hogwarts.
He had the Teachers.
He had people from the Order.
He had the rest of The Weasleys
He had Hermione
But he didn't have Ron.