The funeral
Hermione slowly walked down stairs, and into the living room to find her Grandma sat on the sofa with a tissue in her hand wiping away silent tears, Hermione made her way over to her and sat beside her enveloping her into a hug.
"Silly tears" Sylvia whispered, wiping more away, she looked up at Hermione and smiled, "you look beautiful dear, your mother will be so proud of you today."
Hermione sadly smiled, "I hope so, this is one of mums dresses, I couldn't find anything other to wear, I hope dad doesn't mind me borrowing it."
"Phish posh! That dress is yours! I bought her that for her 21st birthday she always suited black, just like you dear, if he says anything ignore him, his emotions may get the better of him today." Sylvia told her, she gently patted her cheek, "I'll go and wake your father, and hopefully he is a better state than he was last night, get some breakfast dear, you will need all of your strength today."
Hermione nodded and made her way into the kitchen; she quickly got some cat food and milk for Crookshanks and then went to prepare some toast for herself and her grandma. She popped the kettle on to make her dad a cup of coffee to wake him up when her Grandma came into the kitchen.
"How is he?" Hermione asked while setting a plate of toast in front of Sylvia.
"Not good as you can imagine, we all have to be strong and support each other, your mother would have wanted that, she would hate to see him like this." She replied. "Are your friends meeting you at the cemetery?"
Hermione nodded, "They wrote and said they would, to give us personal privacy when they bring the coffin to the house, I asked Harry to come here though if that's ok? He has just been such a huge help through all this and I don't think I'll be able to walk in there without him pulling me in."
"That is quite understandable dear, its lovely how he has helped you through this sad time, with all the stories you have been telling me about your school adventures, I am not surprised he has risen up to support you, I will just go check on your father, the car will be here soon." Sylvia said, she rose out of the chair, placed her empty plate in the sink, she moved towards the stairs when she heard the doorbell ring, "I think that will be Harry dear"
Hermione nodded and she went to open the door, Harry stood there with a sad concerned look on his face, he held out a bunch of flowers to Hermione and pulled her into a bone breaking hug.
"God Hermione, I know this day will be awful but you have me, your friends and family around you, we will all look out for you." Harry whispered into her ear.
"Thank you," she mumbled back, squeezing her eyes shut to not let any tears escape.
The two teenagers went to sit in the living room while they waited for the two adults to come back down stairs, around half an hour later, a huge black car pulled up outside of her house, Hermione gasped as she saw her mother's coffin in the back of the car, Harry gently put his arm around her shoulders and lifted her up whispering comforting words to her.
Sylvia popped her head around the corner, "Time to go now sweetie, you take good care of her today Harry, she will need it"
"I will Ms; she will be okay with me." Harry replied softly giving her a small smile.
Sylvia smiled warmly at the pair and guided them both outside towards the other car, where her father was standing; he looked awful; however he seemed to have sobered up over night.
Hermione walked up to him and gave him a hug, "We will be okay Daddy, I promise, mum wouldn't want us to be this way forever she will want us to be happy."
John returned the hug but didn't say anything, he signalled for everyone to get into the car; he smiled politely at Harry and motioned him to sit by his daughter.
The drive to the cemetery was silent, no one spoke, but they kept giving looks of comfort to each other. As they pulled up, they saw a mass off people waiting outside, the Weasley family was there, so was Sirius and Remus, Alice, Jasper, Esme and Carlisle had come to, along with a few of her mothers work friends and patients.
"She was a loved woman; those that briefly knew her couldn't help but fall for her sweet charm." Sylvia smiled softly as she saw everybody who had turned up. She knew the Weasleys and the Cullen's had only come to support Hermione as they had never met her daughter before she died, however she was glad, as she was happy to see her granddaughter had a lot of friends to support her through these hard times. "Okay then folks, time to do this."
When the family got out of the car people started to go inside the building, Harry motioned to the Weasleys to go inside as he could see Hermione wasn't up to talking to anyone at this moment in time.
John and three of her mother's close work friends volunteered to carry in the coffin, Sylvia, Hermione and Harry followed behind. Her favourite tune of Hero, by Enrique Iglesias was playing softly in the background, Hermione decided on the last minute song change, as she remembered her mother always singing along to this tune.
The service flowed smoothly, Harry sat by Hermione, holding her hand giving her unspoken comfort, Hermione was desperately trying not to give into the tears, she knew she had to speak in a minute and feared that if she started crying she will not be able to stop.
"Now we have Hermione, the daughter of Jane, who has kindly offered to share some words with us today" the vicar announced.
Hermione took a deep breath, smiled at Harry and stood up and walked over to the front. She looked up and all the people in the building, giving her sad, supporting smiles, some crying, and some trying to hold tears in.
"I would like to thank everybody that has turned up today; my mother would have appreciated that. She however wouldn't like to see all these sad faces, and would probably tell you all off and to cheer up." Hermione said with a soft smile, after a few chuckles she carried on, "That's what I loved about her, no matter the situation she will make you feel better and smile again, always informing me that something worse can always happen. My mum hasn't left us, whether you knew her a long time or didn't, she will live on in the hearts of people she helped and cared for, those that love us never truly leave us, our memories will live long, and so will she." After this, tears flew down Hermione's face, she looked at her father but she was looking at the floor with tears flooding his face. Hermione made her way back to her seat and Harry wrapped his arms around her.
"Well done Hermione, your mum would be so proud of you today." He told her.
The Vicar asked if anybody else would like to say a few words, a few of her close friends stood up to share memories.
Once the curtains dropped, covering the coffin, people sobbed, John stood up and bolted out of the door.
"John come back." Sylvia cried, she and Hermione raced after him hoping to catch him before he did anything stupid.
"Dad wait, stop running away, I'm your daughter! What about me? I've lost mum to, how do you think I feel after losing my mother this young, you can't keep acting like this" Hermione shouted to him. She grabbed his arm and made him stop.
He turned around, and his face was full of sadness, "I'm sorry Hermione, but I can't I can't be the father you want me to be, your mum was my rock, without her I have nothing, she was the one who pulled me through the shock of you being a witch, she helped her understand why you needed to go away, she was there for me through everything, now she is gone I can't be that person anymore, I love you Hermione I really do but you are better off without me."
"John! How can you say that to her, after what she has been through, she needs you more than ever" Sylvia said, while pulling Hermione into a hug.
John shook his head, "No I'm sorry I am a rubbish dad always will be, she needs better, I can't do that right now, I'm too messed up, I'm moving away, I need to get away from here away from the memories, I've put the house up for sale, I'm sorry I have been planning this for a few days now and it's the best option."
"But what about me? I need you!" Hermione sobbed.
"Sweetheart you don't, you will be back at school soon living a normal life, but I have to go, that's why I want you to go back with your grandma to Seattle, I am very sorry Hermione but it's the only way, I don't know what else to do." John said he gently kissed the top of her head and walked away.
Hermione shouted his name but he didn't turn back around, she fell to the floor in floods of tears, only just noticing that Harry had come, when she felt strong arms pulling her into a tight hug.
AN
Hello guys! so sorry its been a couple of years since I got this out...college then uni and work life got in the way, I had a spare hour today and I thought id quickly write this up, as a draft has been chilling on my laptop for a while now.
I will try and get another out shortly but with essays coming up please bare with me thanks!