"Please wake up."
It seemed like an overly simple thing to say, but she couldn't seem to find any other words.
"Water."
The word was so softly spoken, she almost didn't hear him.
"MALFOY!"
She rushed to Snape's bedside offering him the drink he requested. A very disheveled blonde head poked in the door, but his sneer immediately faded into a genuine smile at the sight before him. His godfather was awake.
"Leave." The comment was clearly directed at Hermione. While she was not surprised by Snape's cold nature, it still hurt. She was the very reason he was alive, but she did as she was told.
Leaning against Snape's bedroom, Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. The Potion Master would live. After days of doubting herself, she was certain she had fulfilled her promise to Harry.
The thought of her best friend brought tears streaming down her face. She still could not believe he was gone. Malfoy's voice carried into the hallway as he told his godfather of the final moments for both the dark lord and the young hero. Hermione simply could not think of that now and rushed down the hall to escape Spinner's End.
Stumbling out of the floo into the Burrow with tears streaming down her face, she was thankful for the early hour, only Molly was downstairs while the rest of the family still slept. It was difficult being at the burrow. Ginny was mute; she has spent the last few days on her broom refusing to speak to anyone. Ron was no better; he was honestly pitiful. It was as if he had lost all direction.
George was probably the worst. Losing Fred was going to destroy his twin. He was never left alone for fear of what he might do to himself. Bill and Charlie were splitting up the shifts. Their whole family was crumbling; someone had to step up and be the support structure everyone needed. They bore their pain like seasoned veterans, caring for their siblings and parents. Molly hardly left the kitchen. There were more baked goods in the house than could be eaten in a hundred years. Arthur helped the boys as he could, but was needed at the Ministry and with the Order as they tried to establish some semblance of government.
Avoiding Molly was not difficult as Hermione slipped out the front of the house. She adored the Weasley's, but needed a few moments to herself. A part of her still could not believe Harry was gone, like she could go back in the house and Molly would send her upstairs to wake the boys for breakfast. Ron would come bounding down the stairs, the twins right on his heels, with Harry stumbling sleepily behind them with his hair all skew, glasses a little crooked- he never was much of a morning person, nor did he have Ron's bottomless pit of a stomach. Merlin, how she missed him.
Closing her eyes, she leaned back against the house and let her mind slip back to the last moment she shared with him.
"Hermione, you mustn't cry. Please, look at me."
Shifting her gaze from the ground to those bright green eyes was nearly impossible. She did not want to have this conversation...how could she say goodbye to her best friend?
"Harry, please...don't do this! We can find another way."
The look in his eyes told her he was determined. Dumbledore had set the plan in motion and Harry would follow through with it. He would die to defeat Voldemort. Ron was oblivious. Harry had sent him on to the Great Hall to check on his family.
"You know this is the only way. He lives within me; I have always sort of known. I'm sorry, Mione-"
Confusion was reflected in her eyes. How could he apologize? She should be apologizing; she had suspected the connection between the two was due to a horcrux, but had said nothing. Keeping silent allowed her to live in denial. Tears were streaming down her face. Harry had been talking but she could not hear the words. He couldn't be leaving her.
"Calm down, love, no tears for me. You must go now! Gather what you need from his classroom. You can save him. Promise me, you will. I misjudged him so drastically, ask him to forgive me."
She nodded, but could not manage to form words. Wrapping her arms around him, she took a deep breath inhaling that familiar, safe scent. She had been his brains and he, her brawn. Together they were so strong, but she feared how they would fair apart.
Harry nestled his face into her hair inhaling the sweet cherry blossom scent she always had. "I have to go. I have to know you will be safe. I would die a million times over just to give you one more day. Live for us both, Hermione, never settle...and never forget that I love you."
He tilted her face to his and kissed her furiously. Her body melded into him as it had so many times before. The kiss transported her back to their tent months before; she gave herself completely to him.
A cold emptiness replaced his warm embrace and when she opened her eyes, Harry was gone. "I love you, too." she whispered and immediately began to make her way towards the dungeons. She would fulfill her promise.
Hermione had given herself physcially, mentally, and emotionally to him and now he was gone. No one knew; they had not wanted to hurt Ron or Ginny and war left no time for romance. So, she would bear the pain of losing a lover in secret. Her fingertips grazed over her lips as she remembered the feeling of his pressed against them. That kiss had said so much.
Ron was waiting for her when she came inside. He had not really spoken to her since the battle. He was hurt Harry did not tell him that he was going to Voldemort.
"Mione, wait, I want to apologize... I know you didn't... I mean, I don't blame... Bugger, I'm no good at this. I just don't want to lose you, too."
"Of course not, Ron. You won't ever lose me."
"Oh Merlin, you don't know how happy it makes me to hear that, I love you, I always have." Without pausing or even taking a breath, he pulled an atrocious ring out of his pocket. "You are everything to me, Hermione, marry me."
