"Hello" is © Evanescence and is from their debut album Fallen. I have taken the liberty of changing a few lyrics for continuity purposes. As are most of the songs on the album, "Hello" is a beautiful song and I highly recommend checking it out. All the usual disclaimers blah blah blah… you know the drill. Chars and settings © J.K. Rowling. On with the show!

Hello

Playground school bells ring again….

Classes had begun again at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but for one bespectacled, green eyed boy, the world seemed to be standing still. It had not sunk in yet that Ron Weasley, his best friend of seven years now was gone. No matter how hard everyone tried to convince him he had to move on, Harry knew that Ron was still there, somehow.

Rain clouds come to play…again…

The rain fell in heavy droves tried to move on from the tragedy that had befallen only the week before. The halls were quiet as the students moved from class to class, without the usual spirited chatter. The school had taken on the solemn tone of a monastery, and yet, within Harry's mind, he could hear guilty voices screaming at the top of their lungs. The noise was almost deafening to him. Ron wasn't really gone, was he? It wasn't his fault, was it? But, above all the questions posed to himself, one thing rang loudest. The sound of Ron's voice. His friend had come to him, asking him to talk, and he had brushed Ron aside for a quick snog in an empty classroom on the second floor with Cho. Why hadn't he listened to him? Why hadn't he been there when Ron had needed him the most?

Has no one told you he's not breathing?

It took all of his will to push these feelings aside, to repress the guilt he felt and silence the screaming in his head. He looked around the halls as he moved from place to place in hopes of seeing his best friend coming to join him, he saved seats in his classes for Ron, but the seats remained empty, unfilled. All of the other students watched him in pained silence with worried eyes.

Hello,

I am your mind ,

Giving you someone to talk to….

Hello….

"Has Harry gone mad?" Could be heard whispered amongst the students as they gathered in the Great hall for lunch. It was a valid question, for Harry had begun talking to Ron as if he were still there. The one sided conversation looked like that of a child talking with their imaginary friend. Even the Slytherins looked to the once famed hero with sadness in their normally uncaring eyes.

If I smile and don't believe…

Harry had not gone mad, however. In his heart, he knew that if he just believed hard enough, if he acted as though Ron were still there, somehow he would be. Even when Cho came over to see how he was doing, he was cold to her, distant, knowing that Ron needed him now and that leaving to talk to her would only make the situation worse. He was trying to make up for lost time, to reclaim what was lost, and to reconcile with the memory of his lost mate. Deep down, Harry knew Rom was gone, but he wouldn't let himself believe it yet.

Soon I know I'll wake from this dream…

The past week was a blur to him. Between reading the pages of Ron's journal and fits of tears, it seemed almost as if it were a dream, no, a nightmare. By the end of lunch, Harry was laughing and smiling with the manifestation of his lost comrade, and the trick he was trying to play on himself was slowly beginning to work. To Harry, it was almost as if Ron was truly there… as if he'd never gone away.

Don't try to fix me,

I'm not broken…

Throughout the day, professor McGonagall watched the boy, and worried about him deeply. When she saw him acting the way he was in her Transfiguration class that afternoon, she decided to approach him on his behavior. "Harry," She said, in a soft voice so the others in the class could not hear her, " I know Ron's passing has been hard on you, it's been hard on us all, but you have to try and accept the fact that he's gone. Come to my office after class so we can talk… I'm worried about you."

Harry responded only by looking at her with a smile and saying "There's no need to worry Professor, we're both fine."

She felt that if she pressed the matter anymore, that things could become embarrassing, so she left it at that.

Hello…

I am the lie,

Living for you so you can hide…

Don't cry.

It wasn't until potions class, the final class of the day that it hit Harry full force that Ron wasn't coming back. Professor Snape walked slowly up to the front of the room, not breezing in with robes flapping as they usually did. "It is my sad duty," He said in a somber tone, "to inform you that a memorial service will be held at 3:00 PM on Friday in the Great Hall for your classmate Ronald Weasley."

Suddenly I know I'm not sleeping….

Hearing these words brought Harry's world crashing down as reality flooded his senses. No matter how much or how hard he denied it, Ron was dead…. And it was his fault. As the ghost his mind had created disappeared from his mind, his senses began to stop functioning. He did not hear another word the professor said, nor did he feel Hermione's gentle hand on his shoulder. As Harry's entire world fell down around him, and his body was overcome with sobs, Harry broke down.

Hello…

I'm still here.

In that single blinding instant, Harry knew that he was all that was left of what he and Ron had shared, and that his memories were all he had left of the boy who had truly saved his life…. And that he had truly loved Ron.

All that's left of yesterday……