Edited 10/2/2023 Minor Grammar/Spelling
Monday, September 7, 1998
Attending your own funeral is jarring. Hermione had always had a bit of a morbid curiosity around funerals. When she was younger, she'd go to the cemetery near her house and walk through the rows admiring the beautiful old headstones. A small part of her always wondered what her own funeral would be like, but actually attending it was not what she expected at all.
Hermione and Theo, who were disguised as their professorial selves, were sitting in the back observing the whole event. Theo gripped her hand through the whole event, he was taking this harder than she was.
"Thank you all for gathering today," Kingsley said stoically, "as you know. We're gathered here today for the funeral of one of our own."
Hermione looked around the room, she noticed Molly and Ron were sitting stiffly in the corner, far away from the rest of the gathered Weasleys. Neville was crying silently, Hannah Abbot had her arm wrapped around him. Luna looked around the room and caught Hermione's eye with a wink. After a second she returned her attention to Kingsley.
"Hermione Granger is and was a force to be reckoned with. Her strength, bravery, and wisdom will continue to encourage us now and well into the future," Kingsley continued.
"The first time I had the honour of meeting Hermione Granger was when she was in her second year," he said with a fond smile. "I'd never met a girl so excited about learning. She spent probably the first hour in my presence, questioning everything about the Auror department." This got a wet chuckle from the audience. "Hermione was and always will be an inspiration and a reason to continue the fight. Even to her last she was working for freedom and equality for everyone around her. I now pass the mantle over to Neville Longbottom."
Neville shakily stood and made his way to the front. He shook Kingsleys hand and pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper from his back pocket. He cleared his throat and began. "I'm not sure if you knew, but Hermione was my first friend. She's the only person other than my Gran that's attended every birthday since I was eleven, and I'm sure she would have attended my earlier ones, but we hadn't met yet." He let out a choked off sob, "Being upset because I know that she won't be at my future birthdays feels rather selfish, but it still feels so surreal."
He looked out over the crowd and took a deep breath, "Many friends have died at the hands of Tom and his followers, and many people will put Hermione on some type of pedestal, but she wouldn't want that. She lived her life to make the world better, I think in Death she deserves to just read to her heart's content. So, Hermione, wherever you are, know that everytime I open a book I'll think of you."
Harry stood and walked over to the platform where Neville pulled him into a hug. When they'd separated, Harry turned to the audience. "Hermione is my best friend," he said, "and unfortunately for you all she was also my speech writer so this won't have nearly the same polish as usual." This heard another murmured laugh from the assembly.
"From the moment I met her, Hermione Granger lived hard. She tended to take the world on her shoulders. She constantly pushed me to be better. Knowing that she's no longer going to get me to finish my homework or eat or talk about my feelings is one of the worst things I can imagine."
He let out a small sniffle, "While I could give you some more words about her, she appreciates action, so after a long talk with Remus and Minerva, we've decided to open the Granger Memorial School. For now it will be open to Muggleborns and anyone in the Order who didn't get a chance to finish their education, but after we've won, we'll open it up for pre-Hogwarts to help all children, Muggleborn, Half-blood and Pureblood integrate better into school."
By the time Harry had stopped talking, Hermione could feel the tears pooling in her eyes. She leaned her head against Theo's shoulder and soaked up the affectionate murmurs that were coming from the crowd. A rather large part of her felt bad about the whole charade. She knew it was for the good of the Order, but it still felt wrong to deceive her friends.
When Harry stepped away from the empty coffin that held her body, He touched his wand to the coffin, and it lit up in periwinkle flames. Overall, Hermione felt rather pleased at just what her "funeral" entailed. She hoped that one day in the very far future when she did die, it would be much the same.
When the coffin had finished burning, the gathered group went into Headquarters to eat and drink in Hermione's honour. As she walked around on Theo's arm, she was pleased to hear her friends reminiscing about her life. They walked past Molly and Ron who were hissing in the corner. Ron seemed extremely sad about her death while Molly looked smug.
"She wasn't worth your big toe, Ronald," Molly scolded.
"I was in love with her!" Ron said, flushing.
"What would your father say about that?" Molly asked, giving her son a look.
"I know. I'm glad she's gone, " Ron said, not looking like he was telling the whole truth. "Now she won't be able to tempt me. The Dark Lord will be pleased with my news."
"I'm sure he'll see what an asset you are after this event," Molly said, proudly.
Although Ron and Molly were playing right into the Order's hands, Hermione couldn't help but be disappointed. She'd considered Ron a friend for so long and to see him turning his back on Harry and what she thought he believed in was upsetting.
After a few more moments of listening to Molly praise Ron for his new role, Theo led them away. "Are you alright, love?" he asked softly, leaning into her hair.
"As much as I can be. I do hate seeing everyone so sad, I wish we didn't have to lie to them."
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again, let's end this war so we can get back to normal," Theo said, kissing her temple.
"Yes, then we can perform the Reincarnation of Hermione Granger and shock everyone," Hermione said with a small smile.
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think or if you have any thoughts about what might happen next!