Hermione's Photograph Album
Summary – Plotless and pointless… But this is a story that will probably make you smile, laugh or cry…or at least do something to you, I hope…please read and review. It contains- what I think are -cute flashbacks and all...give it a chance!
Author's Note - I'm BACK!! Wow, it's sort of weird to be writing... but I'm so glad I'm here! This is a story that I've thought of during exams lol but I had decided to keep it in a secure place in my mind and save it for later... so here it is!!! After more than a month of absence... Thanks to all those who read my fics during my absence! I'm currently working on the fifth chapter of "How To..."... I should upload it in the coming week... Anyways...
Hermione was ripped out of her sleep by the thunder. She bolted upright in her bed, her hands tightly clutched around her pure white sheets. She could feel her heart pounding hard against her chest. Her breath slowed down a little as the light from the lightning that followed the thunder subdued.
Rain was pouring outside. She could hear the distinct sound it made as it hit the glass of her panes. She released her hold around her sheets and let out a sigh.
Then she flung the sheets off her and relaxed her shoulders. She put a foot down on the cold marble floor, then the other, and looked around the empty room in the darkness.
She reached out and grabbed the glass of water she always kept by her bedside. She brought the glass to her lips and tilted the glass.
Nothing. It was empty.
Great, she thought. Simply great.
Steadily, she got up and made her way to the kitchen. After having poured herself a big glass of water, she sat down at the table, took a long swig, put the glass back down and buried her face in her hands.
She was so tired, and yet, she didn't want to sleep. Sleep meant dreaming and dreaming meant... no, she thought, I'm not going there. She didn't want to dream full stop.
She glanced at the clock hanging on the wall: 4 a.m.
She put her glass in the sink and made her way back to her room. She reached out and turned the knob of the door but another door caught her eye. She stood there, staring at the door for a moment.
Might as well clean up that mess the attic, she finally decided. Enough procrastination and 'I'll do it later's.
She released her hold on her bedroom doorknob and walked to the remote door that led to the garret. Cleaning up the attic was something she had meant to do since long, but never found the time - or the courage to do so.
She opened the door of the said closet and walked inside. Blindly, she searched the switch for the light, she found it, and then click, the room was filled with a soft light.
One look around told her that she'd need more than one day to clean up the whole mess. It was dusty and messy. It was obvious that she didn't come here often.
That should encourage me to clean up more often, she thought as she looked at the piles of old things she had accumulated over the twenty-five years of her life and never had the heart to throw away. They were all packed in boxes, some of which were torn, and negligently thrown in the attic on the day of her arrival here.
"Okay," she said out loud to herself. "Courage, Mione. You're the Queen of Cleaning up, aren't you?"
Hermione turned her nose up as she took hold of an old pair of smelly socks between two fingers. "Ugh, but not when it comes to this… Queen or not, that's disgusting. It must be Dad's," she grimaced. "How the hell did itland here?"
She let it fall back down and ruffled througha box. Some old clothes of hers. "I think Jen will love these," she muttered, lifting the box up and shifting it near the door so as to differentiate it from the others. Jen was a friend of hers who worked at the Orphaned Association (a/n: I made that up! Does it really exist?) and she was always looking for clothes that didn't serve anymore.
Two boxes of clothes, three boxes of story books and a cutlery set from God-knows-where later, and she sat on an old couch contemplating the attic. It was still not what you'd call "neat". She yawned and stretched herself in the cosy sofa. It felt so warm and outside the rain was still pouring.
She could almost hear the wind singing to her, 'close your eyes, you know you want to, close your eyes' accompanied by a beat played by the rain hitting the road and her window panes.
Her eyes closed briefly as she listened to the rain. It felt so good to be here in her warm, comfortable couch when outside it was cold and raining.
…
…
But then, she snapped open her eyes and sat up, rubbing them. I have to finish this first, she thought looking around the attic.
Hermione stood up and grabbed the first box that came under her hands. She opened it up and found her teen years stuff.
This made the sleep vanish like...magic.
She reached out and grabbed a piece of parchment. 'Excellent' and 'Outstanding' were written over almost every one of them. She then warily touched the books. Hogwarts: A History, Curses and Counter-curses, Defensive Magical Theory...they were all there. Hermione felt a smile tug at her lips. So many memories rushed to her. Some she wanted to relive, some she wanted to keep forever more, some she didn't want to forget and some she wanted to forget – but couldn't.
She grabbed a piece of blue cloth and pulled. Her Yule Ball dress unfolded before her eyes and she smiled at the memory.
Then, her eyes fell on a leather hard cover book. Hermione's Photograph Album, written over in golden characters on it.
With an almost trembling hand, she reached out for the big book and lifted it. Licking her lips, she walked back to the couch and sat down, examining to album.
So many years had gone by since she had last seen it. But she still remembered how it had come to be…
---f-l-a-s-h-b-a-c-k---
It was the first Sunday of their school year where the sun and a great weather were at the rendezvous.
A gentle, warm breeze blew through the leaves of the trees and it made a nice, relaxing ruffling sound. The same breeze disturbed the otherwise still water of the lake and sent ripples onto them and the three friends sat there, in the shade of tree.
Hermione sat on her legs, on the fresh, green grass. A hand supporting herself as she read a book sprawled in front of her on the ground and the other running idly through Harry's hair who was resting his head on her laps.
Harry and Ron were talking about the upcoming Quidditch match against the Ravenclaws and were soon reliving the matches they had had since first year.
"Do you believe that it's going to end soon?" Hermione asked suddenly, looking up from her book.
Harry and Ron stopped talking and turned their attention to her.
"Your story?" Ron asked, cocking an eyebrow at the book Hermione was reading. She had reached the last few pages of the book.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "No, stupid." she smiled. "This," she gestured around and looked over at the castle and the students strolling on the grounds. "At the end of this year, we'll be graduating. No more waiting for the letter McGonagall sends us to inform us about books, no more boarding the Hogwarts Express, no more...Hogwarts."
Harry spoke up. "Yeah, I know... No more Feasts... No more Chess and Exploding Snap matches in the Common Room... No more sneaking around…No more secret passages..."
"Hey! No more Snape!" Ron smiled.
"That was supposed to be a melancholic moment, Ron," Hermione said, sternly. But her face broke into a smile. "But you're so right!"
"I'm really going to miss this, though," Ron said genuinely. "I mean, I spent almost seven years of my life in this place. It saw me grow up."
"Yeah...I'll miss it too," Harry said.
They stayed silent for a moment, each remembering those unforgettable moments they had shared.
Then Hermione's eyes widened as a smile crept up her face. "Guys!" she said eagerly. "I think I've just had the best of ideas."
"Good Lord! That doesn't happen often!" Ron joked. "Let's duck into the dungeons, the sky is about to fall upon us."
Hermione ignored him. "No, really!" she said. "Sometimes, I surprise myself with how smart I am!"
"I know someone who's got Humility Lessons to take," Harry teased.
That didn't turn Hermione off for a second. She sat upright and continued eagerly. "It's our last year here, right?"
The two boys nodded. "Right."
"And we want it to be the best of years... right?"
Raven and Scarlet heads nodded again. "Right."
"And we want to remember it, like, all our lives...right?"
They again nodded. "Right," Harry said, as Ron giggled and said, "Left."
His two friends looked at him with a frown. Ron shrugged, "Okay, okay, stupid joke. I myself am the only one laughing. Right is what I meant to say."
"Okay," Hermione resumed. She smiled and looked at each of the two boys. "Since we all agree, I think that we should..." she took in a deep breath and let a silence linger to create an air of suspense. "Keep a photograph album!
"Keep a photograph album?" Harry asked from his lower level.
Hermione looked down at him. "Well, yeah! Of the moments we had here starting from now on... We'll have Colin Creevey lend us his camera for the year. Well...you should ask him Harry since the kid still takes you for a God after all these years."
"Well, I am!" Harry smirked. "Look at my perfect body and this perfect God-made face. Look at my perfect hair. I am perfection. At least he realised that."
Hermione snorted. "That's because Colin has not seen you when you wake up in the morning with your hair sticking out in all places, looking like an old mop!" she teased.
"Yeah and he does not know that you spendhalf anhour in front of the mirror trying to tidy it up a bit," Ron laughed.
"And he doesn't know that you have mild spots." Hermione added pointing at his face with a finger, which Harry pushed away.
"And that you spend another half hour trying to conceal them using magic," Ron added.
"Hey!" Harry protested. "Some things are supposed to stay private."
But eventually, the three of them burst out laughing.
"Anyway, Colin will lend us the camera and we'll take pictures of our last year here, at Hogwarts!" Hermione said when they had finished laughing.
"I think that's a great idea. Do you think we could take pictures in class too and picture you sleeping in History of Magic?" Harry teased.
"Yeah, that's something I want to photograph!" Ron snorted. "And not just to keep as souvenir!"
"Yeah, we will show it to her each time she will boast about what a perfect student she was!" Harry said to Ron who nodded in agreement.
"I do not sleep in class!" Hermione protested.
"Sure," Ron said sarcastically.
"Anyway!" Hermione said stuffing her hair behind her ears with both hands eagerly. "That's a great idea, right? I mean, having our last year in pictures…We'll be able to look at them afterwards and remember all that we lived together! And it will be fun too!" She dropped her hands back onto her laps carelessly, forgetting that Harry was there.
"Ouch!" Harry let out, sitting up and holding his nose while Ron laughed.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry... Are you okay?" Hermione asked him grimacing.
Harry smiled at her painfully, his eyes watering from the pain. "Yeah, you've just broken my nose, that's all."
"I'm sorry," she said ruefully. Then she brought two fingers to her lips, kissed them and placed them on Harry's nose. "There, magic kiss!" she smiled.
Harry smiled at her. "Thanks..." Then he added. "I'm still hurting though..."
Ron took out his wand and pushed up the sleeves of his robes. "Let me fix this," he said, confidently.
"No!" Both Hermione and Harry shouted together holding out their hands to stop him...
---e-n-d--o-f--f-l-a-s-h-b-a-c-k---
Hermione chuckled as she ran a hand over its dusty cover. It looked old...yet she had never opened it ever since she had received it.
She remembered the day that Ron had sent it to her and that Pig was hobbling under its weight. She had been delighted alright, that Ron had not forgotten to send it.
But her delight had quickly vanished when only seconds later, she received another owl, stating that –
Hermione shuddered. And ran a finger around the corner of the book where it had fell on the floor as she had read that other letter.
Three copies of this album had been made.
One was with Ron. Probably with those things he had put in his "exclusive closet". The closet that held everything he cherished the most.
Another with herself. And it had been lying in a box, in the dustiness of her attic, waiting to be opened.
And the other...The one that said Harry's Photograph Album...It had been buried with its owner...Probably as unopened as hers was.
She remembered that funeral day, she remembered Ron holding it as he tried to hold back his tears.
"This is for you mate,"had Ron said, putting it inside the casket with Harry. "Remember the good times we had together. Remember us."
Remembering...that was something she didn't want to do. Remembering made the pain feel much too real.
She brushed away some dust off the front page, still deciding whether to open it or not. Finally, with a sigh and shaking hands, she opened the album.
She had to smile at the first picture. Which was not very great one. It was supposed to be her in the Common Room, but she could barely make out herself in it. It was all blurry. If randomly shown to anyone, he would have said that it is a very bad picture taken by a very bad photograph.
Her eyes drifted to the bottom of the page. When the albums had been made, they had agreed to take each other's album and write comments about each photo.
So at the bottom of the page, written with Harry's neat handwriting could be read:
'This is the first picture. Yes, taken by me. Not very successful, I admit. But hey, it was my first try! Hermione, you're very beautiful in it.'
---f-l-a-s-h-b-a-c-k---
"It's a pleasure having business with you Colin!" Harry smiled at the smaller boy, holding the camera Colin had lent him into both hands. "Thanks, I'll take great care of it!"
"Anything for you Harry," the boy said eagerly.
"Really?" Harry asked.
"Sure," he nodded.
"Then show me how this thing works," Harry said, looking at the camera dubiously.
"It's easy," Colin said. "Look in there, take aim and press the red, button here. Picture taken!"
"Let me try that," Harry said. "Hermione!" he called over across the Common Room. "Look at me!"
Hermione who had been studying looked up at Harry confusedly. "What?" she frowned.
Harry quickly brought the camera up to his eyes and pressed on the red button. Then he turned to look at Colin. "Like that?"
"Yes!" Colin said. "You've got the technique...but she was too far away. A good picture is from not too far nor too near of the person being photographed. And no light behind that person, it makes the picture go dark."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks again!" Harry waved at Colin.
He walked over to Hermione, holding the camera triumphantly in his hands.
"What did you just do?" Hermione asked his doubtfully.
"I took your picture, the first one that will ever go into our album." Harry said, smiling.
"If you took the picture from this distance, I'm sure it's going to be the best one in our album," Hermione said dryly.
---e-n-d--o-f--f-l-a-s-h-b-a-c-k---
Hermione chuckled shaking her head.
She turned the page and found one of her favourite pictures. It was a group picture. Ron and Harry on either side of her. The two boys were laughing as they both bent down simultaneously from their tall frame to plant a kiss on Hermione's cheeks.
She felt her cheeks go warm at the memory.
'I'm glad you asked me to take a picture for you, though I had a hard time trying to find the perfect "first group picture",' Ginny had written at the bottom of the page. 'But I really like it. All those complaints and cramps paid in the end.'
--f-l-a-s-h-b-a-c-k--
"Harry stop moving, will you?" Ginny said as her face appeared from behind the camera.
"Sorry," he said, "But this pose really isn't easy to take!"
Hermione looked up at him. She was sitting crossed-legged on the grass, Ron was kneeling next to her and Harry was to stand on a very pointed rock. Well, trying to.
Ginny rolled her eyes and said, "You Harry Potter can fly at top speed on your broomwhile doing the most impossible of performances, like, standing on it but you're being a baby about trying to keep still on a boulder
"Take that picture already!" Harry sulked.
But before Ginny could press the red button, Harry lost balance and fell again.
"Out of all rocks why did you choose this one?" Harry asked Ginny, rubbing his back.
"Fine, let's go someplace else!" Ginny sighed.
Hermione sighed as the frustration she had tried to keep for hours now got to her. They had tried so many different poses now that Hermione felt like a model. One that never gets pictured, she thought.
One with them sitting in the Common Room but that had not worked because it was too dull for a first group picture.
They wanted it to be perfect! Not look at the picture years after thinking, 'Man, do we look boring in this one.'
Ginny had then had another idea. Standing in the Common Room. That was dull too. Another one was to be near Hagrid' s hut. But Fang had not been of great help to them as each time they tried to take the photograph, he jumped on them and the picture was never taken.
They lost more time going to the lake and trying out different poses. Some made them have cramps, others were simply impossible as they would keep falling. At some point, Hermione had almost fallen into the lake.
"No!" she stood up and walked away.
"What?" her three friends shouted after her.
"I've had enough! It's been two hours! And we haven't yet taken one damn picture!" Hermione said. "It's supposed to be for fun and it should be spontaneous, for God's sake! And I'm not even enjoying myself!!"
Then she had stomped into the castle and into the Common Room where she grabbed a book and ripped it open, sulkily.
An hour later, Ron and Harry appeared in front of her. "Hermione!" they said.
She looked up at them. "Hey."
"Still angry?" Harry asked.
"Hardly," Hermione replied.
"We are sorry..."
"Yeah, about that picture thing," Ron said.
Hermione shrugged. "It's okay. You know, I don't think we should go on with this. I mean, it's being a big load and making us angry at each other."
"Why, you're giving up pretty easily Miss Granger!" Ron said.
"Remember...A scout never gives up!" Harry told her.
"I'm not a scout," Hermione pointed out.
"Good point," Harry said. "But I've never known Hermione Granger giving up."
"We are sorry and we will make an effort for the next photo shoot." Ron said. "Scout Oath."
"Should I recall to you that you're not a scout either, Ron?" Hermione smiled.
"Two good points," Ron said. "I can feel our Hermione coming back."
Hermione smiled.
"I promise the Best Friend Oath then," Ron smiled at her.
"It's okay, you know, you shouldn't be sorry." Hermione told him. "It's not as if you can help not falling from a steep boulder and it's not as if you can take a pose forever and wait for Miss Ginny to take a picture only to realise that she has not even opened the objective..."
They all laughed and the two boys bent down to plant a kiss on her cheeks and Hermione laughed as she realised Ginny was there, photographing it.
"I made sure I opened the thingy this time," Ginny smiled at her. "And I hope it's spontaneous enough for you."
---e-n-d--o-f--f-l-a-s-h-b-a-c-k---
Hermione sighed sadly and she felt her breath catch in her chest and her nose prickle. That's what she had feared.
"No," she whispered to herself. "I'm strong and I'm not gonna cry."
She sniffed and ran a hand over her eyes. It came out wet from the first few tears that had made it out but she quickly recomposed herself and swallowed her sadness.
She turned over the page and looked at the next one, which showed Ron and Harry playing Exploding Snap. The cards exploded and that left both Harry and Ron with their hair standing up on their heads and ash of their faces. Seeing that, Hermione chuckled, shaking her head.
'I don't think I look that good in this one!' Ron had written at the bottom. 'Hermione I hate you for photographing this!'
I love myself for picturing this, she thought as she turned the page over… and laughed. It was a picture of herself on the 19th of September - her birthday - and she was covered with cream and frosting. She remembered that day so much.
---f-l-a-s-h-b-a-c-k---
"Hap-py birth-day to youuu... Hap-py birth-day to youuu... Hap-py birth-day to you... Mioneeeee. Happy Birthday to youuuuu..." The whole of Gryffindor Tower sang that day as Harry and Ron brought a cake up to her with seventeen glowing candles on them.
She brought a surprised hand to her mouth, her books almost falling out of her hands.
When she had awakened that day, no one had bothered wishing her 'Happy Birthday'. It was as if they had all forgotten.
Bah, had she thought. It's probable that they forgot.
She had been disappointed, though, that her best friends had forgotten about that special day that was hers. She had been very disappointed that even Harry seemed to have forgotten.
She had gone to the Library to isolate herself and drown herself in homework. And when she had returned to the Common Room...
"Happy birthday, Hermione!" Harry smiled down at her, planting a kiss on her lips and adjusting a party hat on her head.
She beamed at them. "I thought you had forgotten!"
Ron smiled behind the cake he was now holding by himself. "Forget? Hermione, how could we ever forget? And I who thought you were smart and you knew us..." he rolled his eyes, planting a kiss on her forehead. "Happy Birthday!"
"Thanks!" she said her cheeks rosy with pleasure. "Thank you so much to all of you."
When picture time arrived they took loads of photos. But the one she remembered the most was the one she had taken with Harry…
"Take one with Harry!" Ginny said. "You haven't taken one together yet!"
"That's right!" Ron grabbed Colin's camera. "I'll take it! Go on, stand together behind that cake!"
Harry shuffled over next to Hermione and slipped an arm around her waist. "I get the feeling this is going to be a lovely picture," Harry had whispered in her ear.
"Now say 'cheese'!" Ron said.
"Ch-" Hermione started.
Harry grabbed a handful of cake and had stuffed it into an unsuspecting Hermione's face. "I know you've always hated cheese, Mione. So here's cake for you," Harry laughed.
Everyone joined him in laughing, included herself, though she did blame Harry for ruining the cake and for wiping cream on her brand new robe.
'Mione, don't tell me you're gonna throw a tantrum because of some frosting on your robe,' Harry had said good-naturedly while rubbing the rest of the thick sugar cream in her hair.
---e-n-d--o-f--f-l-a-s-h-b-a-c-k---
'I told you it was going to be a lovely picture,' Harry had written. 'And, by the way, thanks for the smack you gave me afterwards. I can still feel the pain. Ouch.'
Hermione laughed as she recalled the chase that had followed and the friendly quarrel they had had. But as quickly as she had laughed, her eyes filled up with tears and she began to sob uncontrollably.
Oh God, talk about emotional, she thought trying to calm herself as she wiped her tears. But she could not stop. "When is it going to stop hurting?" she muttered softly, burying her face in her hands. "Harry...Why? Why did you leave me?"
I didn't leave you, she almost heard him reply. I never did.
"That's very untrue," she replied. "You left me. You went away and you'll never come back now."
---f-l-a-s-h-b-a-c-k---
"Harry, don't go," Hermione said finally looking up from the ground. "I don't want you to go."
He stopped dead in his tracks and turned around; his eyes were so clear, so green and so painful to look at. He stayed silent for a few seconds before shaking his head. "I have to. I'm here to save the world. I can't let it down."
"I know," Hermione said. "It's your destiny, I'm aware if that...But...what about me? I know I am being selfish as hell here. But...I need you."
"The world needs me too," Harry told her.
"Not as much as I do," she replied. "If…If ever you…you… died along with him in this battle, Harry, everyone will rejoice for their lives would have been saved. Do you think that they'll even think for a second about who perished for them? Maybe they'll do, but they will be glad because they are not the ones who died…"
"I'd be as happy as them," Harry said. "You should too, you are young Hermione. You've got a lifetime before you."
"I won't be happy. I'll mourn." Hermione said. "Don't you understand? You are my world."
"Hermione..." Harry said.
"And…And if you do not succeed to vanquish him, do you… think the world would even be grateful because you tried? All that would be on their mind is that you failed!" Hermione told him.
"But I have to try!" Harry told her. "If I don't we'll never know the end of this story."
"I don't want to know the end."
"I'd be lying if I said I want to know too…" Harry said gently. "It isn't your usual Fairy Tale."
"Yes…when you kiss me, I don't wake up and we don't live happily ever after," Hermione said as calmly as possible.
Harry took her in his arms. "I wish it could be so."
"I feel like you are slipping through my fingers, Harry." Hermione swallowed her tears back and continued steadily. "I don't want to be left alone."
"But at least you'll be alive," Harry told her.
"But I don't want to be alive if it means not being with you," she replied, as a tear rolled down her cheek.
Harry reached out and gently brushed it away. "Hermione," he muttered. "You don't know how difficult you're making it for me."
"I'm supposed to make it be like that," she said.
Harry shook his head. "I'd be very tempted to stay here with you and live this dream we're living together forever..." Harry looked at her straight in the eyes. "But I cannot ignore the nightmare Voldemort is making others go through."
"Harry," Hermione said tearfully.
"I'm sorry Hermione," he said. "But you have to understand that I have to do this."
"I do understand this," Hermione said. "It's the fact that I could lose you that I don't want to understand."
"I'll come back," Harry assured her, kissing her lips. "... But if by some twist of fate I don't, promise me that you'll move on, love. Living in the past was never a good thing."
Hermione frowned. "Move on? You expect me to just...forget you and move on? To make as if there had never been you and go on with my life?"
"No," he said. "I want you to remember me. Because I'll remember you Hermione. Just…Just don't miss me too much."
"But I'll do! You – You are the love of my life. I could look everywhere and I'll never find another you!"
"Hermione, please." Harry said. "Don't say this. Don't make me wish I weren't me. The boy Voldemort decided would be his equal."
She looked at him, her cinnamon eyes shining with tears again. 'I love you Harry Potter,' she said.
'I love you too Hermione Granger.'
'Then stay,' she begged.
Harry took a step back and looked sadly at her. 'I can't. I'll come back, I promise. I always come back to you in the end.'
And with the slamming of the door, he was gone.
---E-n-d- o-f- F-l-a-s-h-b-a-c-k---
'I'm still waiting,' Hermione muttered.
She had been trying so hard not to think about this for seven years now. She had been erasing every single memory Harry and she had ever made. Trying to forget him and the pain that came along with him.
But that was asking for a miracle. It was like trying to forget part of herself. She tried to ignore that part of her that was still longing to see Harry standing before her, smiling his "Hermione Smile" as Ron called it, for her.
She still hoped, even though it was pointless. He died and left me alone...The thought sent a hard strike to her heart and she cried even harder.
The moment she had learned that both he and Voldemort had perished in the battle, she had not been able to take it. She flew off to Vancouver as far away as possible from England and magic and everything.
To forget. She wanted to forget.
Then, she felt a hand run through her hair gently, almost lovingly through her hair and sending shrills throughout her body, and she heard a voice say, Hermione, look at me.
No, she thought, I'm hallucinating again.
She felt a hand jerk her face up and she opened her eyes. Her heart stopped beating for a fraction second.
'H-harry?' she asked, her voice barely making it out of her tight throat.
Harry was crouching in front of her and smiled at her as he brushed her hair away from her eyes. 'Yes, it's me.'
'H-how did you - ' but her words were interrupted as Harry bent down and kissed her. Seven years of waiting in the silent pain of her heart. Seven years of denial. Seven years of 'trying to forget'...
And suddenly, everything came back to her. She was remembering again. All those things she had promise she would make herself forget. All those things she had buried in the depths of her soul.
Everything came back to her.
She remembered how her knees trembled each time Harry would hold her. She remembered how the hairs at the back of her neck would stand at the mere contact of his skin against hers. She remembered how complete she felt each time he kissed her.
She remembered how that she loved. That she loved him.
She held up her hand against his cheek and gently pushed him away. "Harry..." she said again. "How...How is this possible? You...you are...gone," she frowned, the moment of bliss forgotten and the pain coming back to her eyes as tears cascaded down her slightly pink cheeks. "I was there when...when they brought you back...I was there when...when..." she shook her head. "I was there for the...the funeral. You are gone... you can't be here."
Harry smiled gently at her and shook his head. "I was always there Hermione. Always there."
Hermione cried as she looked at him. "No, you are gone. You didn't keep your promise. You never came back."
"I never left you in the first place," Harry said. Then he sighed and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear as he continued, "Do you remember that night in Italy?"
Hermione's face was stained with tears but she sniffed as she remembered. It was one of those things that she had tried to forget but that always came back to her each night. "How could I ever forget?" she said through her hiccups. "Venice...You...Me...The candles...The moon shining high above us...The twinkling stars...The gentle music..."
"The annoying waiters..." Harry added, making Hermione smile slightly. "Ah, I see you can still smile."
"...And those three words you said to me," Hermione finished in a whisper.
"I, Love and You." Harry said.
"It was the first time."
"And not the last." Harry told her cupping her face. "Hermione, I love you. I always will, even in death. I was always there by your side. My heart never left you. It never left Venice."
Hermione felt fresh tears coming up again.
"I know that I didn't come back," Harry continued. "But you have to understand, love, that I had to it. One life sacrificed is better than the death of the whole humanity."
"No, it isn't," Hermione cried. "Not if this said life is yours. Harry, you didn't have to do that curse, you knew it would have killed you too."
Harry brushed away the tears on her cheeks. "It was the only way."
"Why did you tell me you would come back then?" she whispered through her tears. "Why did you lie to me?"
"I would have hated to see you more broken than you already were," Harry explained. "I had to give you that hope...and part of me wished that I would really make it back."
Hermione lowered her eyes and stared at the ground. "But you didn't," she whispered.
"I didn't." Harry nodded. "But I never left you. I was with you every step of the way ever since."
Hermione cried.
"I have something for you," Harry said, taking out a silver ring. "I had told myself that if ever I survived...I…I'd… ask you to be my…my wife..."
Hermione stared at the hoop Harry was holding before her and then looked right back at him, her eyes filling up with tears again. "Will you stop making me cry like that?" she asked.
"You must not cry." Harry smiled at her, caressing her cheek and brushing away her tears on the same occasion. "It's supposed to make you happy that I would have asked you to marry me."
Hermione wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and cried onto his shoulder. "No...I'm not happy because you're making me remember that I lost the most precious person in my life when I lost you."
"You did not lose me." Harry said, hugging her.
"Oh yes, I did." Hermione nodded. "I lost every memory you and I made together. I lost you."
"You didn't." Harry told her, pulling back gently. "When you found the album, you remembered just how it came to be. When you were looking at the photographs, you remembered what exactly had taken place...You tried to forget and I blame you for that…But you didn't forget, Mione. "
Hermione nodded as she realised that he was right.
Harry pressed the silver ring in her left hand and closed her fingers around it. "This is yours."
"You've got a very romantic way to ask your girlfriend to marry her," she said through her tears.
Harry grinned at her. "Romantic never really was my middle name."
"Daring on the other hand..." she smiled as Harry leaned in and kissed her again. When they broke apart, she leaned her forehead against his and licked her lips. "I miss you."
"I miss you too," Harry told her. "I miss not being able to hold you like that. I miss not being able to talk to you."
"I love you Harry Potter."
"I love you too Hermione Granger." Harry whispered to her. "Remember that. Always remember."
Suddenly, she jumped and opened her eyes. Dawning sunlight poured though the windows and she sat up on the sofa.
A dream... "It was just a dream," Hermione muttered out loud.
She brought her hands up to her eyes to rub the sleep out of them and realised that her left hand was clutched in a tight fist. She trembled as she slowly opened her fingers and found the ring Harry had given her in the dream...
"What?" she asked herself frowning.
How can that be? She asked herself as she looked at the ring. After a few minutes, she pushed it at the back of her mind. Some things are meant to stay mysteries. Like why evil exists in the world. Like why people suffer. Like why God decided to take back Her Angel.
She slipped the ring in her finger and got up from the couch. She searched through the boxes for several minutes before finding what she had been looking for.
"Ah, there you are," she muttered, taking out a very dusty leather book out of a box with the words Hermione's Photograph Album written over the cover.
Sighing she walked back to the couch and plopped onto it. She opened the album and ran the film of her last year at Hogwarts in her head.
---f-l-a-s-h-b-a-c-k---
Hermione sighed as she looked up at the castle. Tomorrow, they were going away. Going away forever from Hogwarts.
Shefeltsomeone slip his arm around her neck and she turned to look at the intruder.
Harry looked down at her. "You feeling okay?"
"I'm leaving this place that knows me like I know myself. I'm leaving home and probably never will come back. How would you feel?" Hermione asked, dully.
"Shattered."
"That's my answer to your question then."
They stayed silent for a few seconds as they took in the whole of the castle one last time. And Hermione felt a tear fall down her cheek. She quickly brushed it away.
She sighed and looked around at Harry. "Where's Ron? He should be there with us."
"He's around," Harry replied. "Let's go back to the castle and find him."
Hermione nodded and gave him a sad smile. "Okay," she said, starting to walk away.
Harry held her back. "Oh, wait. I'll race you," he smirked. "Think you've got what it takes to take me on?"
A smile found its way to her lips. "I've got more than it takes."
"Fine, the last one to reach to entrance gets to…hang around withParkinson up till tomorrow and pretend to be her friend!"
"You're on!" Hermione laughed dashing across the field before Harry could blink. But he quickly caught up with her and grabbed the back of her robes to slow her down.
"Not fair!" Hermione yelped, doing to her best to shake him off. "Let go!"
"Okay!" Harry shouted back suddenly letting go. She fell forward on the grass, laughing heartily.
Harry fell into a heap next to her. "I won," he said out of breath.
Hermione shoved him in he ribs with her elbow. "You cheated!" she said, standing up and dragging him up to his feet. "You get a sentence for that: give me a piggyback ride all the way back to the castle!"
"You're cruel."
"It will teach you to cheat in the future," Hermione replied as she pulled herself up his back and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Oomph! God, what have you been eating lately?" Harry teased.
Hermione laughed and gently smacked the side of his head. "In that case, you get to give me a ride until we find Ron. Now walk."
Harry laughed as he started to walk to the castle. "What if my knees give away on the way?" he asked.
Hermione smiled. "Well... then you'll just have to crawl, won't you?"
Harry chuckled and she rested her chin on his shoulder. "Thank you Harry," she said after a while.
"Oh, Potter Transport for Lazy Girls always present," Harry grinned.
Hermione laughed. "Not for that. That's a punishment."
"Sorry, my wrong," Harry said. "Thank me for what then?"
"Thank you for knowing how to make me smile the way you do," Hermione said.
"Thank you for smiling the way you do," Harry replied.
---e-n-d--o-f--f-l-a-s-h-b-a-c-k---
This is how the last photograph showed. Harry and her making their way back to the castle.
Thank Ron for taking this picture, Hermione thought as her eyes drifted to the bottom of the page.
"I don't know how Ron did that but I love him for taking this picture. It's personally my favourite." Harry had written at the bottom of the page. "I think I'll remember those Hogwarts days all my life. They are part of me. I love you Mione and you are part of me too. That's why I'll remember you for always."
Hermione smiled as a single tear fell down her cheeks and landed on the page.
"I'll always remember too."
Disclaimer – I don't own the Harry Potter characters and things that you recognise are not mine either. The last flashback is inspired from a book I've read but don't remember the title of. I actually wrote this while listening to Celine Dion's "It's all coming back to me"
Author's Note – I hope you enjoyed reading this story…It's a bit plotless but that's all my mind can give to you right now…I haven't written for one month for God's sake! Thanks for reading it in the first place and secondly, I hope you'll review!! Thanks!!!