Hermione anxiously paced the floor of number twelve, Grimmauld Place. She let her shaking hands wander to her mouth, which was beginning to recover the war. In her other hand (which was sweating slightly), she held a crumpled note from Harry. She hadn't heard word from him in a day and it made her restless. Replays of her last moments with Ron replayed in her mind again and again, forcing her to lay awake into the early hours of the morning. Harry hadn't mentioned Ron or anyone else in his letter. He had only hastily scribbled, "He's dead. We beat 'em. Still not safe, stay where you are." Not only had this note made her even more fearful, but she felt thoroughly annoyed. Hermione remembered vividly that in their fifth year, Harry had been out of contact with them for the summer. She felt like him, receiving minimal information, being forced to stay in a house that she disliked. She was at Grimmauld Place alone and she missed everyone painfully.
A small tapping interrupted her thoughts. Hermione looked up to see Hedwig persistently striking the window. Hermione gasped and ran to the snowy owl and let her in. Hedwig dropped a piece of parchment on the floor. It read:
"Not everyone is accounted for but we can confirm the deaths of the following: Severus, Fleur, Neville, Charlie," the note continued with a list of death eaters who been killed. "And many are missing or wounded. Ginny, Ron, Arthur, Minerva, Tonks and several others you don't know are missing. We continue to search every hour of the day. It is still not safe.I say this because we also can't find a number of death eaters. We're guessing they escaped. Please stay where you are. We'll keep you posted. –Remus".
By the time Hermione had concluded reading the note, she was weeping softly into her hands, slumped on the floor.
"Oh, Fleur…Charlie…Ginny…M-Mr. Weasley. Neville …Tonks…Professor…Ron!" she whispered each name, sobbing especially hard at Ron's name. "Oh Ron, where are you?"