A/N - Written for Hogwarts Etiquette 5: Write about someone who's tired of waiting.

It's a bit of a weird interpretation, but I checked with Amber and this was cleared :)

Warnings: Off-screen character death

Harry,

You've asked us to write your eulogy, even though you're very much still alive. Bit morbid, mate.

Needless to say, I agree fully with Hermione, who I'm sure has covered absolutely everything.

Try not to die any time soon,

Ron

.oOo.

Harry,

I'm crying just staring at a blank piece of parchment. I understand why you've asked us to do this, I really do, but it's so hard. I don't think you realise how impossibly hard this is, to imagine the death of one of your best friends.

I know the odds of us all surviving this are slim, I know that there's nothing that can be done to guarantee anyone's safety — and that we are, in fact, running head first into danger like usual (you and Ron are absolutely terrible influences, by the way) — but still. It's so painful to even think about any of our friends dying, especially you.

You were my first ever friend, did you know that? I'm not sure if I ever told you. I was never good at interacting with people, least of all children my own age, and I think you were the first of my peers to ever really show me kindness. You quite literally saved my life, and I can't remember if I ever thanked you for it.

My friendship with Ron came shortly after, but it was always different with you. You were like the brother I never had, the sibling I always wanted. We made our own family, you and I. Two lonely children thrown into a world they knew nothing about. But it is such a wonderful family, and I will never forgive you if you tear it apart before its time.

I will never forgive you, Harry, if you do not live to a ripe old age to rival even that of Dumbledore, surrounded by your children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Surrounded by the brothers and sisters you have made both through marriage and the extremely strong friendships you have a habit of crafting, and all your many nieces and nephews.

You will make for the best father, the best uncle, I am sure. You'll be someone all of our children can confide in, someone all of us can confide in. And yes, you may be absolutely hopeless when it comes to giving advice, absolutely terrible at noticing the things going on around you, but the point is that you will listen when it's important. And whilst you may not always know what to say, the fact that you are there and with us is always enough.

So please, Harry, please, stay with us. Do all that you can to survive this upcoming war, this upcoming mission you, Ron, and I are about to go on. I do not want to give any specifics should someone — Mrs. Weasley — stumble across this before we are done, but we all know that it will be incredibly dangerous.

And whilst I know this is not in your nature, I must ask you: Do not take any unnecessary risks!

I know even you and Ron aren't stupid enough to just wander into the Ministry now that You-Know-Who has it pretty much under his control, but still, Harry.

Be careful.

I love you,

Hermione

.oOo.

It will be decades later when these pieces of parchment, worn so thin with age, will be read at Harry's funeral.

Ron will not be there, having succumbed to his own old age several years prior, and so it will be with bittersweet laughter that his eulogy is read by the daughter he will share with Hermione.

Hermione will attempt to read the eulogy she had written for Harry so many years ago, but she will succumb to her tears after reading only his name and her son will step up to continue.

Many faces from their childhood are no longer with them, but there are so many more that they have met and loved along the way. And whilst Hermione may be the last of their little trio of friends, she is not alone. She will never be alone again.

But that hasn't happened yet, and won't for many, many years.

Right now, Harry is in the kitchen helping Mrs. Weasley peel vegetables; Ron is lying on his bed, waiting for the ink on his scrap of parchment to dry; Hermione is still writing, shielding her parchment from Ron's prying eyes.

Because right now, they are still safe in the Burrow, their greatest adventure not yet begun.