When Three Became Two

Warning: Major Character death

24 December 2052

Residence of Harry Potter

19:47

Harry was in his pajamas, ready to get to bed. He glanced over at his already sleeping wife and smiled. 53 years together strong. It was just another day. And for 72 year old Harry Potter, it was a happy day with a calm ending, as it should be. Being Minister for Magic had its benefits, but Harry, who had held the position for almost 25 years, blanketed the Wizarding World as he helped it integrate more with the muggles and helped to advance the lacking technologies that Wizards hadn't known about for decades.

By his side were his best friends and allies, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, and his wife, Ginny Potter. As far as he knew, everyone was in good health with high spirits. That was until he got a floo call.

"Harry? I need to speak with you, it's Ron."

Harry turned towards the fireplace and waved it, allowing Ron to pass through.

"Good evening, Ron. What can I do for you this evening?" Harry asked. Ron struggled to speak his next words.

"It's Hermione. She's dead."

The room was silent for a solid minute. Harry's face slowly changed from happy to concerned to complete and utter shock. His mouth opened but no words came out. Ron's face became darker and darker. Harry controlled his breathing before turning around and walking out of the room, to a large window in the hall, where the dark sky clashed with the light from inside.

How could this have happened? He saw her today at the Ministry! She was functioning well and dandy from what he could see.

"What killed her?" Harry asked, his voice almost cracking.

"The liver cancer, she's been fighting it for years. I had thought that she fought it off but-" Ron stopped talking as Harry's eyes went wide.

"Cancer? Hermione? She never told me!" Harry exclaimed.

"Oh," Ron stated softly, before deflating and stepping back. He left an envelope on his table and went to leave, "I'll leave you here tonight, if you need anything I am a floo call away."

Soon enough, Harry was alone with his thoughts. He waved his hand and the house went dark. Dark and empty, like him. He tried to think about anything other than Hermione, but failed. He glanced at his table and saw the envelope. He carefully opened it.

Harry,

If you are reading this, then I am dead.

19 September 2046

Saint Mungos Hospital

10:45

"Good morning, Miss Granger, and happy birthday!" Poppy Pomfrey smiled as her patient and best friend entered her office.

"Good morning, Poppy! I would say turning 68 makes me old but you are almost 50 years my senior! How do you live such a long life and be healthy?"

"Ah, self care is the best care, my dear. Anyways, you know the drill, lay back and we'll begin your physical." Poppy smiled as Hermione laid back onto the medical bed. Poppy began running the usual diagnostic scans when her face suddenly changed. Hermione noticed this immediately.

"What's wrong, Poppy?"

"It appears that your liver and your right kidney is failing. Based on this diagnostic this has been a problem for over 5 months. Your residual magic has been able to brute force your organs to work thus why you have not felt pain. But that will soon wear out. I'm going to need to take some blood samples."

Hermione was now very concerned. She allowed blood to be taken from her and Poppy informed her that the blood tests would take time to process, so Hermione let Poppy finish the physical and let her go home…

What you might not know is that I have been fighting for years. However, it got to a point when I couldn't fight against it…

31 October 2046

Residence of Harry Potter

20:00

Harry was eating dinner with Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna, Susan Bones, Daphne Greengrass, and Draco Malfoy. The group was celebrating a milestone achievement accomplished in the Ministry. Wizards and Goblins had finally agreed on a permanent truce after years of Cold-War like conditions. It seemed that the Goblins were finally letting go of the massive death count they faced in the second wizarding war almost 50 years prior.

The group was about to begin eating their main course when the Floo shot a notification.

"Miss Granger? I need to speak to you! It's Martha Stewart from the Ministry!"

Hermione excused herself and walked over to the floo and let her friend enter. However, her friend simply stuffed an envelope into her hand and turned back around into the fireplace. Hermione looked at the envelope and opened it. Inside was a handwritten message from Poppy.

Hermione,

I am sorry to state this, but you have stage 2 liver cancer and stage 1 kidney cancer. Schedule an appointment for next week and we'll have a discussion about treatment.

Warm regards,

Poppy

Hermione was stuck in shock for several seconds. Cancer?! She thought that the magic cores of wizards and witches were supposed to keep these illnesses out of them! She took several deep breaths and pocketed the letter before walking back into the dining room, sitting down as she quietly started eating again.

"What did Martha want, Hermione?" Harry asked. "Nothing," she responded, "It was work related, that's all."

Conversation continued as Daphne and Draco animatedly explained to Harry about potential business opportunities that were coming with the truce. Hermione struck up light conversation with Susan and Ron until dinner concluded.

9 April 2047

Saint Mungos Hospital

15:30

Hermione entered Poppy's office and sat down. She then waved her wand at herself and the several layers of glamour charms faded away. Hermione went from looking like a healthy 50 year old woman to a weakened 70 year old woman. Most of her hair was gone and she had heavy bags under her eyes. Poppy entered several minutes later and sat down. She passed Hermione a file.

"I have some bad news for you. Hermione, your cancer wasn't muggle-caused. This is a magical infection."

Hermione's eyes widened. She opened the file to see a single black dot on her kidney. She looked up at Poppy who was not faring much better.

"Do you remember what happened on May 3, 1996?" Poppy stared right into Hermione's eyes. She watched as her eyes went from confusion to thinking to realization.

"The night that we broke into the Ministry. The night Dolohov cursed me-"

"With that unknown spell, yes." Poppy finished. "Unfortunately the curse remained dormant in your system for years. That was until May 3, 2046. 50 years after you got cursed, the curse became active again and started attacking your body in the form of cancer. The reason the chemotherapy didn't work is because magical induced injuries, in this case, cannot be healed via muggle methods."

"So I'll die." Hermione slumped back into her chair. After a pause, she asked, "How long do I have left?"

"A few years. Your magic will be doing a lot of the work in fighting it, but eventually you will pass away."

Hermione could only think about all of the things she wouldn't get. She wouldn't see 100. She wouldn't be with her friends much longer, and she wouldn't have time to be herself for much longer either.

"Poppy, I need you to keep this a secret. I can't tell anyone. Not yet. Not until i'm ready to tell them."

Poppy nodded. "I understand. We'll have monthly checkups to track this, but it will only get worse from here, I am afraid."

So queue up the next 5 years. I slowly got worse, but I kept up the glamours so that you all wouldn't worry about me. After all, we were all going to live past 100, until I got sick. But I wanted us to be together, making happy memories until the end.

I had to tell Ron, he weaseled it out of me about 2 years ago. So I told him, and he promised not to tell anyone else, including you, Harry. God only knows that you have suffered enough hardships in your life and my passing would only be adding fuel to the fire of depression that you always seem to have shouldering inside.

You know I love you, we have been best friends for over 60 years. I didn't want to see you miserable for the last 5 years of my life. Please attend my funeral, and please don't be angry at Ron. You two are my best friends, but the day always comes when three becomes two, and soon two will become one.

Stay strong, Harry. Never forget me, and please don't overthink the past decade between us, I know you want to. When you pass, I will meet you at the Station to greet you into the next adventure.

Much Love,

Hermione Jean Granger

December 20, 2052

She had written this right before Christmas! She knew she was dying soon! That thought seemed to make Harry feel worse. A burst of thunder broke him out of his thoughts. He decided to go to bed and to try to piece together what little life he had left.

31 December 2052

Crawley Cemetery

20:00

The funeral service was long over. Harry had stood at the foot of Hermione's grave for hours now. Everyone else had gone home. It began to rain again, but Harry didn't move. After taking a few deep breaths, he started talking.

"Hermione, you were my best friend."

The rain started pouring down. Harry started to cry and he broke down right there. He accepted that she was gone. He accepted that her methods of happiness in the end were right. He knew that he had more positive memories with her, which was her point. He remembered her letter, her words, her actions, and her.

"You will be missed, Hermione. Good luck on your next great adventure."

Harry turned and walked out of the cemetery with a feeling of finality, disappearing into the rain and darkness that surrounded him.

House: Ravenclaw

Class: Ancient Runes

Category: Standard

Word Count: 1,689

Prompt/Prompts: [Theme]: Physical Loss of a Person, [Time]: After bedtime