Never Easy
'Nobody ever said life was going to be easy Ron.' Those words echoed through my head for year before I realized what they truly meant.
Hermione hadn't said it in a way that made her seem angry, but she was merely stating the facts.
It amazes me to this day how she could have said something so wise, at only eleven. She had repeated this line to me many times before, but what feared me was what was to come.
Today, I would have to tell her this line. Today was September 1st. We were going to Platform 9 ¾. Hermione Harry and I have been through a whole hell of a lot of shit together. And we're still here.
Sometimes I wonder whether or not my purpose on life was only to help Harry kill Voldemort. I once told Hermione this and she flipped. She told me I had a better purpose then that and that if anybody's purpose was just to help Harry then it was she.
She says she's done things such as invented a new spell that acted as a muggle compass, (She claims it wasn't anything special, but she was only fourteen! And she only thought it up in about two weeks.) but hasn't ever done anything that would actually help people.
That was honestly the scariest day of my life. Hermione had doubted herself! And later on, we heard news that the trophy was a port-key, and Harry was gone! As if that wasn't enough, we found out that night, that Harry, our best friend, had had to defend himself against the world's evilest wizard without us.
Since that very day, Hermione and I swore, we would never let Harry do something like that again. We promised ourselves that Harry would always have us there to protect him. But then we failed him again in fifth year!
How could we have let him down so much? How could he have trusted his life, his secrets in such a miserable person such as I?
Harry myself and Hermione had been staying at the Dursley's. They forced Hermione and myself to sleep in a tent in the backyard. I had to listen to Hermione scream during her horrible nightmares. That ripped my heart.
Today, only two weeks after leaving Privet Drive, we were going to the place that we had all met.
We weren't going to go to Hogwarts. We couldn't see what was left for us there. Hermione had cried hard because she though she would be admitting defeat if she didn't finish school, but Professor Slughorn told her, in one of their lovely little 'Slug Club' things, that even if she didn't finish school, she was possibly more brilliant than some of the teachers at that very school.
She denied it, but I agreed with him. He might not have noticed me, but I noticed him. He was a pretty good potions teacher, and he stuck up for Hermione. Anybody that did that was okay in his book.
He remembered the first potions lesson. The love potion, when he smelled it, he wasn't surprised by the scent. It was the same scent as Hermione.
What made him happy was the fact that Hermione smelled of the perfume he had bought her in fifth year.
Ron noticed the time, and told Harry and Hermione to get together so the could apparate.
The three friends arrived in a deserted alley leading to the train station. Once arriving there, they walked briskly, without supplies or owls, towards the barrier that was 9 ¾.
Once they made it through, they walked slowly to the train. It was only ten. No student had arrived except the others their age who had come to say good-bye, just as they had.
Someone cleared their throats behind the three, and they turned to see Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas, and Neville Longbottom.
The three boys were now men, but as Ron looked closely, he could see tears leaking out of each of their eyes. Ron stepped forward and hugged Seamus.
Harry was hugging Neville and Hermione was hugging Dean. The six adults all switched until everyone had hugged, and then all six of them were huddled together in a group hug.
The comfort that was felt between them all was undescribed. Whoever said grown-ups don't cry, well they were wrong. All six were crying hard now.
Eventually they all let go. Still crying they boarded the train for the last time. Harry Ron and Hermione went to the compartment they had first met in.
Harry was gazing out the window and Hermione couldn't handle it. She was crying harder now and I held her in my arms.
"It's not fair Ron." She whispered.
"Nobody ever said life was going to be easy Hermione." Said Ron.
Hermione hugged him tightly, and pecked his cheek. Then she stood on her toes and whispered in his ear: "You've got dirt on your nose."
Ron couldn't help but laugh. Soon the three were all laughing through their tears, remembering the memories that compartment held.
They got out of the train by 10:30. Children had begun to pour in.
"Let me just say," said Harry as they watched the train pull out of the station, "that it was a lucky day for the wizarding world the day Ron Weasley sat in my compartment, and Hermione Granger burst in, asking if we had seen a toad."
They gave another small round of laughs and together the three walked out of the platform, to their alley and apparated out of sight.
When you say that something is not fair, think of the lives those three people had to live, and when you think something is hard, remember Hermione's saying, 'Nobody ever said life was going to be easy.' Because if you get right down to it…she's right, nobody ever said life would be easy. Ever.