Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments): Assignment 10

Gardening: Seasons

Task #3 - Autumn: Write about someone/something dying, literally or figuratively

Word Count: 312 (Google Docs)

Summary: Her spirit has died. Everything that made Hermione Granger - her determination, her love, her soul - they have left her body, to seek out a more worthy owner.

Genre: Tragedy

Rating: T

Cold As Ice

Hermione's fingers trace the line of Ginny's jaw, softly, tenderly.

"Come back," she whispers. It is the softest whisper, the strongest claim, that human lips can utter. She wishes it to come true, but it does not. Ginny remains frozen and silent, her brown eyes wide with surprise, hands forever in the same position.

"Come back." Hermione says again, louder. She stares intently at Ginny.

Ginny does not move.

"COME BACK!" Hermione screams, grief-stricken. She slams her fist into Ginny's arm, but still, Ginny does not move.

Hermione falls to the ground, breathless, broken. "Come back." she whispers, one last time. "Please, come back."

Still, Ginny does not move.

Hermione flees.

She flees, right out of the room in Malfoy Manor where Ginny is kept, right into the hallway.

She runs, her feet pattering on the same floor that her tears fall on.

She is a coward, she knows.

She wonders how long it will take for the others to find out.

She picks up the pace, simply trying to get away.

Get away from what? She wonders.

From Ginny? Perhaps. From Malfoy Manor? Maybe. But from the reality that Ginny has been frozen like an ice statue, that she will never be awakened again.

Ginny flashes in her head, bright and vibrant and happy, her long red hair tucked behind her ears, laughing as she chases Hermione. Immediately, that image is replaced by the one of Ginny frozen, wand in hand, mouth forming a perfect 'o'.

A door slams open, but Hermione does not care.

Her spirit has died. Everything that made Hermione Granger - her determination, her love, her soul - they have left her body, to seek out a more worthy owner.

She's like a Dementor victim, with no soul, only body.

She wonders how long it will take her to actually become one.

Not long, she figures. She's already gone.

A/N: The 'It is the softest whisper, the strongest claim, that human lips can utter' part is from the book The Bride Wore Black by Cornell Woolrich.