I'm baaack! Okay, I admit, it's been a while. But I've had stuff to do and..
I'm gonna just get to the story now.
Usual disclaimers apply.
Some of this chappie is in Hermionie's view. JUST SO YOU KNOW.
I can't count the years since I last saw him. It's been too many. But I do remember how I've had to watch my two best friends die.
We were on a mission to round up the last of the Death Eaters. They had, apparently, attacked Hogsmeade yet again and the Aurors were in need of backup. Ron, Harry and I were called in. We thought it would be easy. Just a few sneaky Death Eaters that had managed to hide for a few years. Nothing we couldn't handle. We were the golden trio, weren't we?
So we went. Apparated right in the middle of the battle. As soon as we gained our balance, Ron fell like his brother had, years before him. Harry and I ran for cover, out of the mess of spells. I could see the terror struggling to break free on Harry's face as he simply stood and stared at his fallen best friend. They had been best friends for 15 years, and now..
"Sectumsempra!" someone bellowed behind us, and I watched as Harry fell as quickly as Ron had. His face, however, was frozen in shock.
As suddenly as the fight started, it finished. With a crack our enemy disapparated. I looked across at the destruction the people had caused. Houses up in flames, blood soaked into the once-snowy ground. It was terrible. Bodies were strewn across the ground from both sides like rag dolls. The one thing that caught my eye, however, was a ginger lying in the snow. He looked happy, laughing mockingly at what he had thought of something that would be easy.
"Oh Ron.." I whispered, "Why do you have to be so silly?" I made an attempt at a smile while the Mediwitches and wizards flooded the death scene, taking dead bodies and attempting to help the injured. One of them even came up to us and attempted to take him.
"No!" I growled, shoving the man away. They will not touch my Ron.
When another came up behind me, I didn't notice. I was too preoccupied with studying my friend's face when they stupified me. By the time I realised what had happened, I was forced into being blissfully unaware of the world around me.
Despite their deaths, I still tried to contact him. Somehow, I promised myself, I will find this man.
People tried to help me, saying he didn't exist or that he was a side-effect from the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder I was suffering from. But I knew he was real. He had to be. I could never love an imaginary man, could I?
Harry's funeral was a day that I can remember thoroughly. It was a closed-casket funeral because of the horrible cuts over his body. There were hundreds of people there, most of which I knew that Harry wasn't aware even lived. Ron's funeral was the week before, which was a smaller affair than this.
Much like Dumbledore's funeral, it was held at Hogwarts, his one true home. Fawkes had appeared out of nowhere and screeched a horrible, regret-filled song for all that had wanted to hear - or that could. The tears came in floods from everyone. Ginny was bawling, holding onto their first born, who was completely unaware that he would never get to meet it's father. Teddy Lupin was there also, attempting to comfort his Godmother while he fought back his own tears. The whole of Harry's graduating class was there. Anyone who had ever met the boy had attended.
Hermionie stood at the back of the cathedral-sized area. She knew she should've been up at the front with Ginny but somehow could not bring herself to it.
"It isn't your fault" everyone kept saying to her, but she couldn't believe them. She should have been watching his back, like he had watched hers for so many years.
A sudden spring wind flared up and sang through the bud-filled trees as Harry's body was lowered into the ground near the banks of the Black Lake. It seemed oddly peaceful and happy for a day of such sadness. But strange. On the wind floated what seemed a familiar sound, the same sound that had been heard at Ronald's funeral. Then she realised.
"Doctor!" Hermionie said, beaming. Her doctor had finally come to save her from this horrible life! She turned every which way and yet she could see no blue box. No tall man with straggly hair. No beautiful blue eyes than those around her, filled with tears. Passer-bys gave her odd looks as she searched the grounds, still smiling. She searched for hours, going through every nook and cranny of the 1000 year old castle. In the early hours of the morning, she finally gave up. Tossing off her high heels, she went and sat next to the lake. Beside the tree that had so many happy memories.
/FLASHBACK/
Hermionie and the Doctor were enjoying the calm quiet of the morning. The almost silent rustle of the leaves over them and the gentle waves from the lake made the morning beautiful.
That is, until two dunderheads decided to play chicken right in front of them.
They shot off at exactly the same time, racing toward each other. The Doctor cried out for them to stop, but his cry was muffled by Hermionie's hand.
"Shhh, they know what they're doing." she whispered quietly laughing at the man beside her.
"But - but - they'll kill each other!" He urgently said to her, causing her to laugh harder.
"No they won't- just wait!" Hermionie said, patting him on the head.
The exact moment she said this, the boys were only a metre from becoming a head-on collision. However, at the last second Harry dived under Ron, only missing him by inches. The Doctor flinched at the sight of this, even now expecting one of the boys to fall into the dark water below.
"Harry! Ron!" Hermionie called out, standing up. She waved her arms to get their attention, and walked back toward the Doctor. She had her 'I told you so' face on.
"Don't even say it.." the Doctor said, face-palming as the boys arrived to their hiding spot.
Hermionie turned to her friends, and addressed them both before crying out in mock outrage; "That was two seconds slower than last time!" and hugging them.
"Good memory for a girl that had previously been in a coma for almost three months." Harry said, laughing. Hermionie giggled and sat back down on the blanket she was sharing with the Doctor. She, once again, grabbed his hand for not only the warmth it was giving her left hand, but because it just felt right.
/END FLASHBACK/
Hermionie laughed at the memory. Her silly boys, always loving the dangerous side of death, they had always loved adventure and hanging around each other.
"Oh boys.. why did you have to leave me?" she whispered to herself, drawing her legs into her body. A skirt was nota good idea to wear in early spring, she decided.
"Cold?" a voice behind her asked, handing her a jacket. A tweed jacket. A brown tweed jacket.
She stared in shock at the article of clothing dangling in front of her face. Slowly she turned around, and there he was. With suspenders, a bowtie, everything. The Doctor smiled and held out his arms for a hug.
Smack.
"You bastard!" Hermionie snarled, shoving him away. Her eyes burned with unshed tears as she locked his in a glare that would make Voldemort cower.
"You leave for nine fucking years and come back looking for hugs and joy? I searched for you, Doctor. I tried for years to find you, to see you. You never came. Everyone all thought you were imaginary, a figment of my imagination. I was called "crazy". If it weren't for Ron and Harry, I would be locked up in some mental asylum somewhere. But now Harry and Ron are dead and it's all my fault." she cried, turning back to the water.
The Doctor was lost. Nine years? he wondered, looking at what he thought was his girl. He thought he was gone maybe a few days, but whole years?
"Hermionie, please believe me when I say that I meant to come around sooner. I thought that I had only left for a few days, maybe a week at most. I must've overshot time again.." he said, trailing off when he noticed she wasn't listening. "Well, when you stop moping I've got a TARDIS with passengers inside that I'd love for you to meet and all the time in the world."
The girl perked up at this, her curiosity taking the best of her. "Who?"
"You'll have to come with me to find out." he sang, walking away. Hermionie made the split-second decision of not letting him walk away from her again. She quickly brushed her backside off, grabbing her shoes, and ran to the man retreating into the Forbidden Forest.
"So that's why I couldn't find you.." Hermionie mumbled. She transfigured her shoes into a pair of trainers and entered the dim forest.
"Dearest companions! I've got a visitor!" the Doctor shouted into the TARDIS as he burst open the doors.
"Who the hell did you bring this time?" a ginger asked, appearing from the other side of the circular control panel.
"What the hell, Doctor? You found another girl?" Hermionie shrieked, punching the Doctor in the arm. He hissed and walked up the ramp to his friend.
Putting his arm around her shoulders, he announced, "This, my dear Mionie, is Amelia Pond."
Haha that felt good to write. I've missed you guys. :(
Anyway, review and I might put up a new chappie for Christmas! :D
-Sarah