"She's alive!" Hermione bawled.
"She's not!" Molly protested. "You know this! You saw the spell hit her!"
"Ginny, the secret is out, tell them," Hermione said, turning around. "Ginny? Ginny, baby? This is not the time to hide!"
"Ginny is dead, dear," Molly said, trying to soothe Hermione.
Ron wrapped his arms around Hermione saying, "She's gone, 'Mione, let her go."
"No!" Hermione screeched, fighting against his hold on her. "She's alive! I've seen her."
"Arthur, we'll have to postpone the funeral!" Molly said, turning to her husband.
"No," Ron said, barely managing to restrain Hermione. "We end this today. We cannot elongate her false hopes."
Molly nodded, her tears flowing freely.
Ronald dragged Hermione, kicking and screaming, into the car.
Inside the small church, the Weasleys managed to keep Hermione quiet and subdued, by some miracle. However, when the funeral procession reached the graveyard, Hermione broke free.
Diving onto the coffin, Hermione clawed at the lid. "Ginny, come out! She's not dead! She's not!" she shrieked.
Each time someone tried to pry her from the coffin, she drove them backward with disarming and stupefying spells.
"Damn it, Ginny! Open the coffin! Come out!" Hermione screamed, her tears streaming down her cheeks.
Hermione squealed in delight when she finally pried the coffin open.
"Ginny? Ginny! Get up!"
The cold, dead shell of Ginny Weasley remained in the coffin, unmoving.
"Ginny! No! She's alive! Ginny, baby, wake up!" Hermione cried.
"Hermione, she's gone," Molly said in a surprisingly calm voice.
"Lies! Shut up! She's alive! She faked it!" Hermione yelled back, pulling Ginny's ice-cold form into an embrace. "Ginny, wake up!"
Her answer was silence.
"Ginny!" Hermione sobbed, fearing the truth. "No!"
"Stupefy!" Ron yelled, getting up and aiming at Hermione.
Several days later, Hermione awoke in a room at St. Mungo's.
"Shh…" Hermione heard, feeling a hand grab hers. "Let's go!"
Hermione pulled herself from the bed. 'Ginny?" she whispered.
"Of course!" Hermione heard the whispered answer.
Reaching the outside of St. Mungo's, Hermione pulled her hand to her side. "Where are we going? What the bloody hell is going on?"
"Shh…"
"Damn it, Ginny, I need answers!"
"Such as?"
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see!"
And Hermione felt herself moving again.
She knew where she was before she asked. "Where are we, Ginny?"
You know where we are."
"Why are we here?" Hermione pleaded. "And why haven't you answered my question yet? I know I saw the spell hit you! What happened?"
Silence.
Hermione knelt and felt the gravestone by her side, tracing the name with her fingers:
Ginerva Weasley
August 11, 1981- May 19, 2002
A cherished daughter, loyal soul mate, and faithful friend. Take before her time; she'll be sorely missed.
"Ginny?" Hermione asked the silent night tearfully, "You'll be with me always, won't you?"
Hermione waited for an answer, but heard only silence.
And in the silence, Hermione cried.
