11I don't own anything
It was all over.
Slowly, I pulled myself up, my whole body shaking. The pain in my legs forced me to collapse yet again, to the ground. Waves of pain traveled through my body, it even hurt to keep my eyes open.
But it was over; and we had won. After all the years that we had dreaded this day, the fear and angst that it had brought upon the three of us. It had been the day that Harry Potter had finally gotten rid of the evil that had lurked in the world hiding for so long. Destined to kill or to die trying, Harry had been given a precious gift that had brought so much pain and suffering into his life. No one could fully understand what he had gone through, all because of the scar on his forhead.
I tried to get up again, exhaustion ripped through my body like a tidal wave. I ignored it; I had to get out of here. I heard a faint voice call my name; it sounded a lot like Harry's. Oh thank god, he's okay.
"Hermione? Where are you?" The voice was becoming closer. I turned to see his slalom face. He too was badly injured, he was limping, and his robes were covered in blood. I couldn't tell if the blood was his.
"Are you okay?" He took my hand and supported me.
For the first time I realised that there were many figures lying on the floor. I poked one with my foot. There was no response. The huge room looked smaller then what it seemed when they had first arrived. Hermione guessed that this was because there hadn't been hundreds of bodies lying on the floor. Dead.
These people where someone's family, someone's brother, someone's sister; someone's lover, someone's wife, someone's husband, someone's daughter, someone's son. Tears started to water in her eyes.
So many people had been lost, not only today but the days leading up to now. Innocent people that had simply been at the wrong place at the wrong time, some knew the battle that they were fighting for. It had been a long twenty years.
They would never be forgotten by the ones that loved them. They would remember their memory, their touch, the sound of the voice; all things that they would never see again.
Harry helped her walk to the large wooden door on the far side of the room. She couldn't stop looking at all of those that had persisted, she couldn't bear it. Yet she was drawn to them, to see their face. She wanted to let them all know that it had not been for nothing. That they had won; no longer would we have to live in fear.
Less people left then what had come.
Ron, Hermione suddenly remembered. Ron. Where was Ron?
"Ron?" She turned frantically looking around the dark room. Oh god, please no.
Her eyes fell on Harry. He wasn't looking at her. Instead he looked at his shoes that suddenly looked like the most interesting thing that he had seen all day.
"What Harry? What do you know?" Her mind was racing. Ron, her best friend; who had helped her through some of the most tough times in her life. Ron, who had held her as she weep, who made her temper rises so easy. Ron, who she had loved since the third year. "Harry? What happened?" Her body was no longer the only thing that was shaking.
"I…Hermione...He" Harry searched for words. He couldn't tell her. It would break her heart.
"Harry. Tell me." Her tone had turned dangerous now.
"He, I saw him go down just by the door." He didn't look at her.
Hermione's knees buckled. Please no. This can't be happening, he promised. He promised that he would never leave her. He promised the one thing that he couldn't give.
Finding the strength that she was sure that she didn't have before, she ran towards the big oak doors. Hoping, wishing that Harry had been wrong. He had to be.
She dodged the lifeless figures lying on the floor and ran. Wishing. Praying. That he was okay, that he was alive; and that he would take her into his arms while she wept tears of joy, because he was okay.
She scanned for fiery red hair, which she wanted to run her fingers through, since the first time that they had meet. But he was no where to be seen, his smiling face, strong hands and long legs where found nowhere.
What had happened?
Where was he?
Was he alive?
She fall to the floor, tears running freely down her face, fearing for the worst.
Images of all the times that they had spent together flashed before her. Their first meeting on the train. Harry and Ron saving her from the troll. The way he laughed, how brave he was, how his face lit up whenever she laid eyes upon him. She had to see him that one last time. She had to tell him that she loved him, the one thing that she hadn't done; the only thing in her life that she ever regretted.
He couldn't die without knowing how she had felt. Why hadn't she told him before? She had had plenty of opportunities but she had never told him the way that she felt, and that she would stay up late in the night thinking about him. Dreaming about what it would be like to be in his arms, for him to kiss her so sweetly. And now it would never happen. He would never know how she felt.
Still she looked, searching for him with a fool's hope, the hope that he would be returned to her, safe once again.
Harry was calling her, but she did not come. She had to find him. Maybe, just maybe she would be able to tell him. She prayed that she would get the chance.
The shouts got louder, but this time they were not of Harry's voice. But there was something very familiar about the voice that made her turn.
Her heart stopped beating.
A flash of short, red hair caught her attention. She looked at the man before her in wonder. It was him alright; it looked as if he hadn't even received a scratch.
She looked at him in wonder. He was alive and not hurt.
She ran over to him and flung herself into his arms. He pulled her closer and wiped the tears off her cheek.
"Ron." She whispered as she clung to him. "Ron, I…I, I love you." His eyes locked hers. He had a look of surprise on his face, but she had to tell him. She had thought that he had died not knowing how she felt. She couldn't let that happen.
"Since third year." She pressed on. "When Sirius took you to the Shrieking Shack, I realised how much you meant to me, how much I needed you." She paused waiting for a response. But all she got was a blank look. "I'm telling you know because the thought of you dying not knowing how I feel is...is unthinkable."
She waited for him to say something, anything.
"Hermione, I have loved you for a long, long time. So long ago that I don't even know when." They looked at each other with bewilderment. How could they have let this happen?
They had loved each other for so long yet they had done nothing about it? But it does not do well to dwell on the past. With this thought, Hermione closed the gap between them and their lips met.
Finally, after four years, they could finally say that they loved each other.
When they broke apart, Hermione's lips were swollen and Ron was very pink in the face.
This had happened because of one reason. Hermione had realised that Ron might have died not knowing how she felt about him, because Harry had told her that he had seen him fall to the ground near the oak doors. But he hadn't came anywhere near the oak doors, in fact she had first seen him as he walked towards the oak doors from the other side of the room.
"What happened to you? I couldn't find you anywhere. I thought, I thought that you were-", Ron interrupted her.
"It was Ginny," he replied simply. Now she was confused.
"What does Ginny have to do with it?" She didn't understand what he was trying to say.
"Ginny healed me.", He looked deep into her eyes knowing that he had to tell her the truth. "I was very badly injured." She gave him a questioning look. "I was dying-"
She gasped. Harry had been right.
"Harry found me. I was in a bad state so he called Ginny over. She did this weird thing and I suddenly felt better. She healed me. ", She seemed to be taking it well.
"Harry, Harry told me that he had seen you fall to the floor near the oak doors." Why did he say that when he knew that it wasn't true?"
Ron didn't look at her.
"What?" she demanded.
"Well you see, Ginny needed to have no interruptions. So she could, you know." He looked up at her, trying to put the words together.
A tear was starting to run down her cheek. He went to wipe it away, but she pulled away. "You thought that I would be an interruption?" She was very hurt. How could he say such a thing?
"Hermione?" It was Harry.
"How could you do that to me? You know how I feel about Ron." Her anger started to rise.
"Exactly, you would have been all over him crying, trying to say good bye." Hermione turned away form him.
"Hermione, that was the exact opposite to what Ginny needed to heal Ron. She needed to concentrate. She could only carry out the spells if she had the space."
Hermione started to piece two and two together. If she had been there Ginny wouldn't have been able to meet all the things that she needed to heal Ron. She understood.
"We couldn't have you interfering, so I told you that he was by the oak doors. That way Ginny would have been able to do her work in peace. ", She turned back around looking heart broken.
"I understand." The two of them looked very surprise. They hadn't thought that she would so understanding.
Ron pulled her towards him and she happily let him hold her in his arms. The full effect of what happened finally had its effect and the tears started to roll again.
"Shhh. Its okay Hermione. I'm here." She clung to him like he was some precious doll.
He tilted her head and kissed her, with so much passion, that he even surprised himself. They had many years to catch up on.
I really enjoyed writting this one, and I'm quite prod of it. Please say if you feel the same. thanks