Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other character. Neither do I own the places. All I own is the plot. The rest belongs to J.K Rowling.

Chapter thirteen: Memories

Harry sat down on the couch, next to Ron and Ginny.

"You see..." McGonagall said. "It has been...too long."

He shook his head. "...no..."

"Yes. If they were alive we would have heard from them."

"No!" he yelled as he jumped to his feet. "No! They're not dead!"

"We can only think they are!"

Ginny closed her eyes. Ron layed a hand on Harry's shoulder, fighting back his tears.

"Harry...it's been...two weeks." He swallowed difficultly.

Harry turned around and faced Ron.

"I know." He said. Then he suddenly started to cry.

"I...just...can't." he sobbed. "Can't believe...she can't be dead!"

Ron cried too. This was what he had always been afraid of.

"She's...gone. She won't come back...will she?" Harry whispered hoarsly.

Ron couldn't speak. This...the trio...it was down to two. He never could have imagined this happening. It had always been the three of them. And now...now a part of the puzzle had gone missing.

Ginny sat on the couch, her knees pulled up to her chin. She was crying too. Hermione was never coming back. Never. This wasn't real. It couldn't be...could it?

McGonagall quietly left the room, not wanting to impose on their grief.

It was dark. The curtains were closed. On a table stood two candles. A picture in between. It was a picture of her, taken when She, Ron and Harry had been out picknicking in the garden at the Burrow. She had a violet behind her ear. She smiled the happiest smile she had ever smiled. She was wearing a dark blue summer dress.

It had been taken just after their seventh year, in the summer after their graduation. That wasn't long ago. A year, maybe two months more.

Harry couldn't look at it without his throat hurting, his eyes burning. He sat between Ron and Ginny. Both of them were crying too. In the row behind them were mrs. Weasley and the twins. The row behind that had been taken by McGonagall, Snape and Lupin. Where the others were, he didn't know.

Dumbledore stepped down from behind his little desk.

"I ask you all...to close your eyes. To remember the good times, the happy times we shared with Hermione. A moment of silence to remember her."

Ron had his face turned away. Ginny was hiccupping now and then. Harry just stared. Tears were rolling down his cheeks silently.

Ginny gently layed her hand on his in a comforting way. He thanked her silently. Dumbledore coughed.

"It is time to say goodbye."

Harry got up and layed a single rose in front of the picture. "Goodbye Mione...it wasn't your time." He whispered.

He turned around and left the room, supported by Ron and Ginny.

Ron followed him. He looked at him as the clock struck eight. He still had tears in his eyes and so did Harry. Ron stepped closer to his friend.

"Are you okay?"

Harry nodded. "...I miss her."

It was silent for a while.

"Remember...back in our fourth year? When you and I were fighting. She was always trying to get us to apologise." Harry said with a bitter smile.

Ron chuckled at the memory.

"Yeah...and then she had to cry when we finally did speak to each other again, after the first task. Silly girl eh..."

"She was always there for us. She even had a near nerveous break-down when I hated her, because I didn't believe Crookshanks hadn't touched Scabbers. I feel so stupid about that now."

Harry took off his black jacket and his tie. "It's so strange. When we first met, on the Hogwarts Express, I hated her. Well...no. I didn't hate her. I just thought she had to...loosen up a bit. Relax more, you know. She knew more about me than I did. It was spooky. But then...she became our friend. And I realise now how lucky we were."

Ron nodded and sat down on the chair. "I thought I loved her once, you know." His voice sounded broken with tears. "In fourth year. I was jealous of Krum. I think everybody knew about that. And I never did anything about it. I was afraid she'd avoid me if I told her."

He quickly reached into his pocket and got out a tissue.

"I...I never knew about that." Harry said, his voice sounded surprised.

"It was over in sixth year. It suddenly stopped...and then...then you asked her for the christmas ball and I knew you two would end up together." Ron laughed bitterly. "There even was a pool about how long it would take you two to get it together...Neville won a Cauldron Cake."

Ron shut his mouth as he saw Harry's shoulders shake. "Oh...I'm so sorry Harry."

Harry sobbed silently, his shoulders shaking heavily. He sniffed two or three times before wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt.

"It's just...that...at the christmas ball...she told me it was her first...her first kiss...She told me...she had saved it for me."

And with this chapter we step into the second half of this tale...yes, I know some of you out there might be thinking 'only half way! That's too long!' but I promise to speed up the updates a bit. Because now I have more time to type and I've already finished typing up to chapter nineteen, so quikcier updates are now possible!

Of course that doesn't mean you guys have to stop reviewing ;) I'm not forcing you to do it...but I AM curious to see how far we can get with the number of reviews! (Was that subtle or what? haha)

Kitimat-born: Harry is obviously not coping well with the loss of Hermione...so how the story is going to end up...you'll see

Draco's Winged Heart: Thank you for that lovely review. I did not think it was mushy at all. I'm really happy you like my story this much and I hope you'll continue eading it.

Dark Angels: Yeah they were caught again...I don't really know why I did that...i just did :P I'm almost done with typing this tory, 5 more chapters to go...and then I PROMISE to start on Angel...though you might find it's not as good as this one and bittersweet goodbyes. Well, that's my opinion anyway.

Mojo the Rock Chick Munchkin: Don't worry about Ginny too much. She's a tough girl and she can handle it. And maybe there's a nice surprise for her somewhere hidden in the deep dark folds of my plot...

Woohoo! Well as you noticed by this rather quick update, I'm already keeping my promise. Soooooooo See you soon at the next chapter and of course i'd love to hear form you!!!!!!!!!!!
- Raven55