Chapter 16 – The grieving process

Hermione and Ron had been at the burrow for about a week before Ron cried. Hermione was worried about it. She knew it wasn't good to hold in your emotions, and Mrs Weasley watched him very carefully. Hermione wasn't doing well at all. With the loss of her parents so soon before it was just too much for her, she was glad that Draco had found her that day she had tried to kill herself. She never realised back then the effects it had on other people and now she did she felt so grateful to him.

They were all sat down eating dinner one night when Ron was asking Hermione to pass him the butter, and he remembered when they had all stayed there the night before the quidditch world cup and asking Hermione to pass him the butter and Harry had passed it over instead. And he just started to sob. Hermione was glad of this, she knew he needed to let it all out.

He ran from the table not wanting everyone to see him cry and Hermione and Mrs Weasley had followed him.

He had gone out to the garden where they had played quidditch so many times, and sat down at the edge of the lawn his head in his hands crying his heart out,

Hermione looked at Mrs Weasley, she nodded at Hermione, it would be better for her to comfort her son. She was grieving too but nowhere near as much as these two.

Hermione ran forward to Ron as soon as Mrs Weasley had nodded and pulled him into hug and they had cried together, they had cried for as long as they could until they felt they could cry no more.

"Ron I know you loved him, we all did" Hermione said "I cant imagine life without him"
"me neither" Ron said "what will we do?"

"we will have to learn to live with It Ron" she said gently "there is nothing else we can do"

he nodded and they hugged again
"lets go inside" she said "its so cold out here"

they went back in and it was the same as it had been all week, miserable faces and hardly any talking, Harry had been a part of this family. Even though he was not related to any of them, they treated him as a son and a brother and Hermione knew it affected them all so much

The next morning an owl came from Dumbledore telling them there would be a funeral for Harry at Hogwarts the next day.

The next day came by far too quickly for them and before they knew it they were walking into the great hall at Hogwarts. Hermione saw Draco and went over to see how he was doing

"I am ok" he said "how are you?"

"some days are better than others" she told him "but that's to be expected I suppose" he nodded

Dumbledore walked into the great hall and Hermione noticed the house tables were not there and there was harrys coffin at the front. There were no seats. Hermione thought this fitting. She thought it better they stand for this

Dumbledore came over to them "Hermione I was hoping you and Ron would perhaps say a few words about Harry in a little while"

Hermione nodded but Ron shook his head and refused "I cant do it, I'm sorry"

Hermione squeezed his hand. "It's ok"

"Thanks" he said

Hannah came over and hugged Ron and held his hand

Hermione followed Dumbledore and Draco grabbed her hand on her way past him and also followed.

Hermione wasn't sure why but now wasn't the time to ask

"ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to remember a young man who gave his life up" Dumbledore started, there were thousands of people there all wishing to say goodbye to Harry

"I would like to have some of the people who knew him best to speak oh him, Mr Draco Malfoy"

some people clapped and some people were surprised, a lot of people had known the rivalry between the two and not many had known that they had become friends.

"I haven't been friends with Harry for a long time" he started simply
"but in the short time I have been, I must say he was a truly genuine person, and being a Malfoy I haven't really known many of these throughout my life, I will tell you a small story, it was our first day and we were coming to Hogwarts, I was being the little snob my father raised me to be, which caused me to slight Ron Weasley, I tried to make friends with Harry, but because of this he didn't want to know. He stuck up for his friend's even one he had made a couple of hours before. Since then there was always a rivalry between us, I am not proud of this and am glad we got the opportunity to become friends, he accepted me even after everything I had done to him and his friends, he was forgiving and compassionate. He had morals, values and was one of the truest people I have had the pleasure to know. I never really knew what to say up until now, but I will say this. Thank you Harry potter for being a friend and goodbye, you will be missed" and with that Draco stood back and Dumbledore again stood forward, everybody clapped

"now we would normally have had his head of house say a few words but unfortunately professor McGonagall has taken some leave because of this and cant be here today, so instead professor Snape has offered to speak" Dumbledore told them

Hermione was shocked Snape had always belittled all of them, why would Dumbledore let him speak at Harry's funeral?

Snape stood forward and cleared his throat

"Harry potter" he said "was a Gryffindor like his mother and father, he was a exceptional quidditch player and as much as I dislike saying he beat slytherin every time. I know a lot of people do know the rivalry between Gryffindor and slytherin and I know that I have given Harry a hard time on many an occasion. But I am in my firm beliefs that he needed it. He was much like his father in his attitude to things. Which if I am honest with myself is no bad thing. His father was a man of integrity and it was a tragic loss that both james and lily potter should have left there son behind. Now I hope he is with them wherever he is and they are all watching down on us. I know there is a lot of grieving on most peoples parts and I know its hard. But I do so hope you can all move on and instead of commiserating his death, we celebrate this young mans short lived but exceptional life. Thank you"

again everybody clapped

hagrid was crying and looked at Hermione. She looked at him and gave him a weak smile, she knew it wasn't much but it was all she could manage.

"our head girl and one of Harry potters best friends, Hermione granger" Dumbledore said introducing the young woman.

She stood forward and she had tears running down her cheeks.

She looked at everybody looking at her expectantly

She hadn't had time to thnk something up so she was going to just say what she felt

"hi, I have been best friends with Harry potter for just over five years, Harry, Ron Weasley and I were inseparable. We went everywhere together, we had mutual likes and mutual dislikes" she looked at Draco when she said this "I accepted Draco for the changed man he is and Harry being my friend and the unjudgemental person he was followed my lead and soon found a friendship with Draco also. Harry potter is famous here in the wizarding world. But he never enjoyed the fame. He always shied away from it. He always wished it were someone else.

All truth be told I am mad at him for taking his life from us. We wanted to share it with him, we wanted to be there for him and we wanted for him to be able to talk to us. But unfortunately Harry had a lot of things to deal with in his life and it all got too much for him. I cant help but think to myself that it was a terrible waste of such a promising life. I feel as though there is a hole in my heart. I feel as though a part of me is missing and I fee that despite everything the world has to throw at him he could have coped with it all if he had just spoken to somebody. I have always tried to be there for my friends.

There are many times that I wish I could change things that happen. But not like this.

I want to tell you a couple of things Harry potter," she said to the coffin.

"I love you and you will always have a special place in my heart for you no matter what. I lost my parents a couple of months ago. I felt my world had been torn apart and Harry was one of the people there for me. I tried to kill myself too but lucky for me Draco saved me. Why couldn't you have given us time to save you Harry, why couldn't you be more open about how you felt" she said she walked over to the coffin and looked at it. The lid was shut. "Why did you leave me?" she shouted banging on the lid to it. She was crying and hitting the coffin again and again "you bastard" you selfish bastard" she yelled

ok quite a short chapter this time I know, but I have been feeling rather downhearted really, I appreciate the reviews I have got but I have seen a lot of stories that are only a few chapters with tonnes of reviews. You read it? Then let me know what you think please, and I will upload a much longer one next time. Thanks