Disclaimer and Notes can be found in Chapter 1

Counting Stars and Passing Cars 10/14

Fred/Hermione

Inspiration: Last of Days

The sun is just creeping over the edge of the world when Hermione Apparates to the graveyard. She takes a deep breath and moves through the Weasley headstones until she reaches the fresh patch of bare earth that belongs to Fred.

"I'm back. I was hoping we could have that talk," she says softly, sinking to her knees and reaching out to trace his name on his marker. So young, she thinks. Too young and gone too soon.

"First off, I brought you something." Opening her bag, she pulls out a worn envelope and a bright box with the distinctive Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes logo. She props the box against the stone and slowly opens the letter. The parchment is creased and worn from many readings, and she gently smoothes it with her fingers before laying it down. "I bet you know what this is, don't you? Are you surprised I kept it? You shouldn't be. A girl keeps her first love letter."

Tears blur her eyes, fragmenting the words before her. Dear Hermione…I know you're leaving…both know what's coming, so I can't let the chance pass…know how much I care…I think I could love you. She blinks hard, bringing the world and his words back into focus. When this is over, maybe we could talk. I mean, if you think you could love me, too. Until then, take care of yourself out there, Granger. I'd be lost in the world without you in it. Love, Fred.

"I didn't find this until a week after Bill and Fleur's wedding. I still can't figure out when or how you snuck it into my bag." She dashes a tear from her eye. "I guess it doesn't matter now. Oh, Fred…" She hangs her head, her fingers pressed hard against the dirt. "I wish you had said something sooner. I wish we could have had some time together, a week, even a day."

She cries quietly, her shoulders shaking. A sudden breeze plays with the leaves of the trees and lays a cool finger on her brow. Around her, the tall grass and wildflowers that thrive in the graveyard rustle and bow to each other. Soon, they'll cover Fred like a patchwork quilt.

She swallows hard. "I want you to know that I read this letter a hundred times, and I thought about you and how it would be to see you again a thousand times. When I heard the sound of your voice on Potterwatch, I wanted to see you so bad, I thought it was going to kill me. I'd give anything for you to be here with us now.

"I don't know what would have happened if you had survived, but Ron and I—" she swallows again, "—something is happening between us. I don't know what it is, or where it's going. Maybe nowhere, but maybe somewhere good." The sun warms her cheeks, drying the tracks of her tears. "You're gone, and so I have to let go of what could have been and focus on what could still be."

She leans forward and kisses his name. "Thank you. You gave me something to dream about. I could have loved you, too, and I'll never forget you."

She tears opens the box and pulls out a bundle of fluorescent Weasleys' Wildfire Whizz-bangs. Rolling his letter into a tube, she wraps it tightly around the largest rocket.

"Goodbye, Fred," she whispers and lights the fuses with her wand.

Sitting against his monument, she watches them explode in brilliant wheels of color above her head, even brighter than the rising sun.

The world carries on without you
But nothing remains the same
I'll be lost without you
Until the last of days
Until the last of days

Last of Days
A Fine Frenzy