Harry and Hermione: A Coincidental Love

Chapter 4: Dealing With It

Harry's POV

The next day, I was allowed out of the Hospital Wing. Me and Hermione had no classes that day, but we had some the next day, some I didn't even want to think about at the moment. We tried to find something to do to keep our mind off of our pain, but it was useless. Things were awkwardly silent, no matter what we did—joke about Dobby's tea-cozy, run from Peeves, and even look up a book about Quidditch in the Library, where she was sure to check out at least one super-huge book to read for a little while, absorb the information, then return and get another. Unfortunately, I knew it had to be talked about. It just had to… otherwise we would never recover.

"Hermione? We definitely need to talk." I said, almost silently. "I know." Said Hermione, knowing exactly what I meant we needed to talk about. "It seems kind of weird, not having Ron here, or Ginny. " I said. "Yes. I really miss them, Harry. Ron was the only one I ever loved, the only one who ever protected me from evil and danger." She said solemnly. "Hermione, never say that again. You have me, and I have always protected you as much as he has. Okay, I have never kissed you, or held you the way he had. But that doesn't mean I don't care for you, Hermione. You are like, my best friend now." "Now." She scoffed.

"Hermione, what does that mean?" I asked. "It means, you never paid as much attention to me as Ron did, even if sometimes it was negative attention when we fought." She said with her arms folded. "Hermione, just because Ron was my best friend doesn't mean that you weren't my really good friend. I haven't had much experience with girls as friends, so it must have been a little harder for me to understand than having a boy as a friend. I always cared about you, Hermione. I could've killed Draco for everything he did to you, and I tried as hard as I could to understand everything you did and said, things like S-P-E-W." I said, putting a comforting arm around her shoulder. I knew what it was like, taking anger out due to death on friends. I had done it before, and she understood more than Ron did. In some ways, she could be a better friend than Ron ever was. She was less violent, more understanding, and always had my best interests at heart in the long run, instead of just current events, such as the times she tried to say 'No' to copying homework so I could understand it.

"Harry, I am sorry… I guess… I have never dealt with anything like this—you know, death. I better just keep my anger to myself. You are right; after all, you tried to understand." She said as tears began running down her cheeks. "Hermione, take out your anger, otherwise you'll never know how to deal with it. C'mon, we'll go outside. Best place to yel out anguish and upset feelings. I know, I have done the same things a lot before." She looked up at me gratefully. Maybe going through all that pain gave me a power to help others go through it. I certainly hope so, for I can't stand to see Hermione upset like this, and I want to help her out as much as possible.

I took her to the tallest place on Hogwart's grounds. It was near Hagrid's hut, yet far enough away for Hermione to yell and whatever without anyone hearing it. She looked up at the sky, then down at the ground. It looked like she would never yell or get upset, until she closed her eyes, and tears flowed out of them. She was deep in concentration, probably still trying to hide her real feelings. Her head pointed up to the clouds, the sky, the sun once more, and finally, she opened her mouth to scream.

"HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN! RON WAS THE ONLY ONE I HAVE EVER LOVED! WHY! GINNY WAS THE ONE GIRL WHO UNDERSTOOD ME; WHO DIDN'T CALL ME NAMES AND MESS WITH ME ABOUT HOW I LOOK! RON CARED FOR ME, AND HE WAS TAKEN AWAY! BY EVIL PEOPLE, DEATH EATERS NO LESS! HE DIDN'T EVEN GIVE ME A SECOND DOUBT THAT HE COULDN'T LIVE! AND HE DIES ON ME! I NEEDED HIM, AND HE IS… gone." She whispered the last part to herself, and fell to her knees. I sat on the ground as she cried more and more, the tears she had been holding back flowing down her face. I kissed her instinctively on the head and whispered very softly, "Feel better?" She nodded, and dug her head so much it hurt into the crook of my neck.

Hermione's POV

It never occurred to me how expert Harry had to be at dealing with all this.. pain. He had his parents taken from him when he was only a baby, and never knew them. Since the begging of the 5th year at The Order of the Phoenix, he was probably even better at it. He knew that you couldn't move on until you got rid of all the bad feelings about someone, and now I knew it as well. Harry put his arms protectively around me, and kissed my head as I cried. I never knew that the people who had gone through the most pain might just be the best ones to talk to it about.

The sun began to slowly set, and the sky darkened. Harry whispered into my ear, "We'd better go, before we get into any trouble. We have classes tomorrow, you know." I nodded, and thought to myself, Aren't I supposed to be the responsible one?

We walked in silence, until we got to the Common Room. I said the password, 34. It was the death toll of the Gryffindors, and unfortunately, it was the highest, next to the Slytherins. Of course, not everyone had the death toll for his or her house as the password, just Gryffindor. Otherwise, it wouldn't make any sense at all, would it?

"Harry? Why didn't you yell or anything?" I asked, almost to myself. He sighed and said, "Because I have done enough yelling, screaming, and crying that going through it all again would just be silly. I feel ready to move on, after remembering him and Ginny. I miss them a lot, and I always will, but the faster we move on, the better."

I nodded, noting how silent he looked. I nearly started crying, just through realizing the pain he had gone through with everything. We walked into the Common Room, and hugged each other tightly as we made our separate ways—me to the Girl's Dormitory, he to the Boy's. I, however, wished we could just spend the night in the Common Room, talking and discussing about Ron and Ginny, trying to get all the pain out. But it would never happen, for we had both lost the love of our lives. However, soon we would move on, for we had started to deal with it.