Chapter 11
-Two Years Later-
People from all over the wizarding world were here, many of them very important people, including the Ministers of Magic from London, America, France, Bulgaria, Dumbledore, etc.
Yes, everyone was here, and for good reason. It was, after all, my best friend, the famous Harry Potter's funeral.
It was true. Harry died. In the final battle.
Don't fret, though. Voldemort died as well. They had both shouted, "Avada Kedavra!" at the same time, and when the smoke cleared away, their two bodies were found lifeless on the floor.
I myself had a front row view too. Everyone had stopped fighting when Harry and Voldemort began dueling. After many cuts and bruises, the dreaded words were uttered by both sides.
It was not supposed to happen like that. I felt a fresh wave of tears overcome me as I pondered. Harry was supposed to defeat Voldemort and after that, live a long happy life.
But no. Bloody fucking Voldemort had to kill him.
Harry was my best friend, brother, and my conscience. I had never fully appreciated him for those things. Looking back, I realized that even though I was the smarter one, he was much more mature. Hell, if I had taken his advice earlier, I might have been here with Draco instead of just my shadows.
As I sobbed alone, currently behind a large oak tree where no one could find me, I felt a tap on my shoulder.
I swiftly turned around, starting to wipe away my tears, when I saw that it was Ron.
Lord, he took it even worse then me. Here at the funeral, he put on a brave face, but when he first found out, he had completely broken down. I had never seen him in such disarray before, and it scared me.
"Hermione." His eyes were shining with unshed tears.
"Oh, Ron." I fell into his tight embrace. We both sunk to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.
All three of us; me, Ron, and Harry; had turned somewhat softer since Hogwarts. I became less bossy and demanding, Ron's temper greatly lessened, and Harry, well, he was pretty much perfect the way he was.
The reason for this was because throughout the war, just as I had predicted, we saw uncountable close ones die under our very noses. Lavender Brown, Neville Longbottom, Colin and Denis Creevy, my father, and worse of all for Ron, Luna. They had been going out for a full year and a half when a deatheater killed her off mercilessly. Ron was heartbroken.
But we were nothing like this. This was Harry. Our best friend. Our brother.
After a while, we got up from the dirt. I was still sniffling.
Ron gave me a small forced smile. "Well, we should get back."
I nodded wordlessly. He took my arm and we walked over to the cemetery.
-Cemetery-
"Hermione Granger and Ron Weasely? Please, tell us how you feel…"
"What is it like to have your best friend, Harry Potter, die like that…."
"How does it feel…"
"What are you thoughts on…"
I was about to start sobbing again. Ron saw this and roughly pushed everyone away.
I didn't appreciate all the reporters coming up to us, interrogating us. Couldn't they see that we were grieving!
Insensitive bastards.
The priest said a few words about Harry, and took out a wand. He muttered a spell under his breath and the white coffin Harry was in slowly lifted up and floated from the ground. I looked up in alarm. Surely they couldn't be taking him away from me already?
They were. I began to inwardly hyperventilate. When the coffin slowly started to descend into the hole, that's when I totally lost it.
"No!" I cried out. "Don't take him!" I started to run toward him in hopes of seeing his face one last time, but I felt arms hold me back. Ron.
I struggled. "Let me see him! I want to see him!"
I was sobbing freely now. "Please-" I choked out. "Why won't you let me see him?"
I turned toward Ron's direction, who was crying very hard now. I felt immediately guilty. He was handling himself. Why couldn't I?
I buried my face into his chest and cried, not being able to bear the sight of Harry's coffin being slowly buried in the dirt, signifying that he would never be with us again.
I held on to Ron for dear life as he comforted me with reassuring words and softly stroked my hair.
"It's going to be alright. Shh. I'm going to miss him too. But I'll always be here."
I lifted up my face to look at him. "Ron," I whimpered in a voice not like mine. "Don't ever leave me. You're all the family I have left."
More tears streamed from our eyes as I said this. He nodded and silently pulled me to his embrace again.
-Two Hours Later-
Finally, I was alone. All day, I had been fleeing reporters and people in general, afraid to receive their sympathy and pity. I didn't want that. All I wanted was to visit Harry.
I walked slowly over to his tombstone.
Harry Potter
Great Hero, Best Friend, and Boyfriend
20 Years of Adventures
"Live life to its fullest; be selfish at times; be selfless at times."
I shook my head. How I wished that I listened to him. I still loved Draco, after all this time. Of course, I didn't expect on seeing him anytime soon.
I sensed someone behind me. It was Ron.
He walked over to stand beside me and stared at the grave. I leaned my head on his shoulders.
"I miss him already." I felt tears coming again. "Ron, how are we going to survive without him?"
He shook his head at me. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me gently.
"We will, Hermione. We'll miss him terribly, of course, and the hurt will never go away, but we'll learn to accept it."
I smiled through my tears. "You're right. When did you get so wise?"
His cocky smirk took over his features. "It's a gift."
I laughed at him. He always could make me grin even in the most depressing situations, Much like this one.
We talked for a few hours, all the while sitting next to Harry's tombstone. At 9:00 pm, he stood up.
"Well, I better head back. To comfort Ginny, you know."
I said it was all right and to go ahead without me. I couldn't bare the thought of leaving Harry alone. Not yet.
After he walked off, I started talking to Harry. Yes, I know he was dead, but I couldn't help thinking that maybe he could hear me.
"I wish you didn't have to go, Harry. Now who's going to set me straight? Who's going to tell me what to do when I'm being incredibly thick? Who's going to tell Ron to stop stealing all my food?"
Soon, it was 12:00 am. But how could I leave Harry here all alone? The thought itself made me shed a few tears.
"I don't want to leave you, Harry." All of a sudden, I got very angry. "THEN WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME? WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME HERE ALL ALONE? YOU SAID YOU WOULD NEVER! WHY?"
I fell onto his little mound, sobbing once again.
"It's not good for a pretty girl like yourself to be alone here at night."
A voice broke me out of my thoughts. I shot up. I peered closely at the figure coming toward me.
"Who are you?" I croaked, my voice scratched from crying so much. The fog was very hard to see through.
"Aw, 'Mione. Don't tell me that you don't remember me." I sensed a pout.
It was a man. I looked even closer, and widened my eyes.
"Draco!" I whispered?
It was unmistakably him. Platinum blonde hair, well- toned body, and though I couldn't see it, I knew that those blue eyes were there.
"The one and only." He then looked sadly at the grave. He shook his head, as if saying in his motions, the world is so wrong.
He looked back at me. "Are you alright?"
I looked from the grave to him. I miserably shook my head as tears found their way down my cheeks.
"Aw, Hermione." He kneeled down in the dirt with me and put his arms around me and pulled me into a deep hug.
I cried and cried and cried, for God knows how long. All I knew was that maybe, just maybe, Harry was somewhere up there saying, I told you so, Hermione, you daft girl. Remember, its okay to be selfish sometimes. Didn't I say that? Yes, I believe I did…