Back to school Event
Prompt: (quote) "School may be hard and irritating, but you'll miss it when it ends."
Words: 362
Hermione watched Ron complaining about school with a sense of nostalgia. The time when she complained about not getting enough work, because seriously, why would she complain about too much homework when she actually wrote more than the assigned parchment length?
But she didn't leave in a dream world any longer. She knew that soon, Hogwarts would not be safe any longer and she would miss it terribly.
She didn't regret anything, though. It was better to know than live in a dream. Hermione had given up on her childhood when she decided that she would stand by Harry no matter what was to come at the end of her first year at Hogwarts. And more so, when she had decided that she was in love with Severus Snape irrevocably and irreversibly.
Over a year ago, she had gone to the Headmaster to inform him of the matter. And to ask him not to intervene if, by some miracle, the Potions Master returned her feelings. He did.
But being a spy's girlfriend wasn't easy. Especially in these moments. Dumbledore had left her a letter to go to his office straight after dinner, and she could feel from the tone of the words that something was very wrong.
Earlier in the year, the Headmaster had put on a cursed ring that resulted in his blackened hand. Severus had done his best, but Albus Dumbledore was slowly dying. So, upon learning that the Dark Lord had asked Draco Malfoy to kill him, he had asked Severus in return to do the job.
Hermione had been very angry with the Headmaster for asking that of her Severus. But after days and nights of thinking, she had come to the conclusion that he was right. It wasn't the best solution, but it was the right one.
When Harry and Ron said something about too much homework to do before going to dinner, she couldn't help but say, "Harry, Ron, school may be hard and irritating, but you'll miss it when it ends. And we don't have much time left."
As she left through the portrait holewith tears streaming down her face, she whispered, "Or at all."