1,000 Miles

by IAmTheBadWolf315

After being gone for 16 months,Hermione Granger returns home, finally willing to put the past behind her and be with the man who was always by her side. Now, she must learn to deal with the fact that,in her absence,he moved on. HG/SB HG/RL

2. Death Be Not Proud

CHAPTER 1

three years and four months previously

Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadfull, for thou art not so, For, those, whom thou thinkst, thou dost overthrow, die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

John Donne

The only noise that could be heard was the sound of a girl's sobs echoing off the walls of the stone castle. Hermione had never felt so lost in her life. Dead. It was final, he was gone, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. He would never kiss her again, never give her one of those smirks that were on his face whenever he was breaking the rules and she was given him silent repreimend, never again would he stare up at her with those beautiful chocolate puppy dog eyes.

Nevermore. She thought thinking back to the Poe poem that had long been a favourite of hers. He had read the poem to her once when they had had one of their brief moments alone together. He had never been a fan of Poe's work- he felt there was enough horrors in life to have to imagine more- and yet, he said the poem drew him in somehow, as though it was enchanted.

Hermione had always believed that he only said that because he knew that was her favourite poem; but she never said anything. If he was lying to her about liking the poem well… it was sweet.

That thought just made her cry harder. Dead it was so final. So not him. She half expected Sirius to jump out from behind her curtains at anytime and yell boo! It was be so like him to pull a stunt like that, make everyone mourn for him, think him dead when he was so very much alive. He would show up with that Know -It-All grin and say. "Miss me Mione?" or "I never knew you all cared." and she would yell at him, and curse ever saving him from the Dementors, and then he would whine and pout, and he would kiss her, and she would forgive him and they would go back to how it had been before.

"Damn it Sirius." she cursed under her breath, "Why did you do it?" You didn't have to fight Bella, didn't have to play the hero. Fuck it, you didn't have to die." But in the back of her mind, she knew he really did have to. He wouldn't have been Sirius if he didn't, he wouldn't have been the beautiful, reckless, wonderful idiot of a man that she had fell in love with.