The clear blue sky seemed to be mocking her heart as Hermione stood next to the deep grave. Tears streamed down her face as the casket of her best friend and true love was slowly lowered into the dirty resting place. Harry had his arm firmly around Hermione as he fought hard to hold back his tears but even he couldn’t help it. The dam that was built up burst as reality settled in him. Ron was gone for good.
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It was during the Final Battle that it happened. Harry had been vehemently battling Lord Voldemort. All around, members of the Order were fighting Death Eaters. Hermione and Ron were prominent in the fight taking down Death Eater after Death Eater. Hermione had quite a few scratches and bruises from her encounters but seemed to be holding up very well. Ron had disappeared in the skirmish and she hadn’t noticed where he went since she was so engrossed with fighting a man she believed to be Nott.
Slowly the number of Death Eaters began to dwindle to less than the members of the Order. Various spells were easily heard throughout the clearing. Shouts of Protego, Petrificus totalis, and even the Unforgivable Curses were heard. Harry and Voldemort were still locked in battle but there wasn’t anything anyone else could do for either combatant. They had to take care of themselves because that’s what the prophecy ultimately called for and everyone there knew that except Voldemort.
When Hermione finally finished off the last of her attackers she began to look around for the fallen Order. She checked on each person on the ground to see who was in need of immediate help, who could manage for now, and who was beyond help. Lupin, Tonks, and Kingsley Shacklebolt began to round up the Death Eaters who were still alive to send them to Azkaban. The Order did have a rule to not kill when at all possible. However, some instances did require the use of the Killing Curse. The bodies were also rounded up so they could be identified and eventually, put to rest.
However, among all the dead Hermione could not find the one person she hoped to reunite with. Ron was missing from the body count. This left Hermione in a sort of limbo of emotion. She could neither rule him dead or alive; however, she prayed for the latter. She could not find him and told herself that he had just moved far away in a huge fight. Last she saw him he was fighting Bellatrix Lestrange. Hermione knew this couldn’t be good news since her last encounter ended with Sirius falling through the veil and never returning. After ten minutes of searching Hermione became very frightened and alerted the others to the situation.
“Remus,” Hermione summoned, “I can’t find Ron anywhere. Have you seen him at all?”
“Sorry, Hermione. I haven’t seen him anywhere but I’ll keep an eye out.” The look on Lupin’s face seemed to tell Hermione that the chances of Ron still being alive now were slim to none. She refused to accept the possibility and immediately began her search again. At any sign of red hair she perked up but since most of the Weasleys were in the fight, red hair was quite abundant in the place; but none of it seemed to belong to Ron.
Hermione couldn’t believe it; she and Ron had been together since the Christmas of their seventh year at Hogwarts. That made this Christmas their four year anniversary. Since the death of Dumbledore in their sixth year all three teens matured very quickly in their search for Horcruxes. They experienced things most wizards and witches never dreamed of experiencing in their life and in this growth, Ron and Hermione had put aside all their usual squabbling and realized their feelings for each other. Harry, while remaining single the whole time, still kept a place in his heart for Ginny when all of this was over.
It wasn’t until Voldemort lay dead on the ground that the group finally found Ron. Harry had miraculously defeated the Dark Lord by actually using the Sectumsempra spell he learned from the Half-Blood Prince, or Snape, years before. The excessive loss of blood Voldemort received didn’t immediately frighten him. He simply laughed at Harry thinking that he still had at least one Horcrux left but when he noticed the still body of Nagini, his beloved snake, fear burned through his eyes as the pain and reality set in. And thus, the Dark Lord was defeated on the spot lying in a pool of his own blood and the fear of morality still lingering in his cold, still eyes.
A group of Order members were a few yards away from the corpse of Voldemort. They were gathered tight together, grabbing each other for support and whispering to each other. They seemed full of sadness and shock, but also they were hiding something from one of their number. Hermione was curious as to what could be more fascinating to look at besides the body of Voldemort so she silently approached them. She could distinctly make out a body on the ground and could’ve sworn there was a shock of red hair visible.
“What are you guys looking at?” she inquired.
“Oh, Hermione!” Tonks exclaimed, a look of compassion and pity etched on her face. “I’m so sorry!”
She stepped back to reveal the body of Ron. He ironically was lying next to Bellatrix. They seemed to have cursed each other to death at the same time and fell right next to each other in a scene that made them look like fallen comrades instead of enemies.
Hermione felt like she had the breath knocked out of her and fell to her knees; right there she felt her heart shatter into a million pieces. No one standing there quite knew what to say. The other Weasleys approached cautiously and instantly felt Hermione’s pain. Arthur and Molly gripped each other, Molly’s worst fear coming true. Fred and George stood stoically staring down at their baby brother. Bill held Ginny as she buried her face in his chest and cried at her loss and Harry fell down at Hermione’s side to comfort her. He reached into Ron’s pocket and pulled out a small, black box.
“Here, Hermione.” He tentatively handed the box to Hermione indicating that she should open it. Hermione hesitated but after seeing Harry’s insistence she pried the box open to reveal a gorgeous platinum and diamond ring. She gasped and put her hand to her mouth as she admired the exquisite beauty of the ring and as its significance dawned on her.
“He was going to ask you to marry him. I felt it only fitting that you should still have the ring. He really loved you. I know he’d want you to know.” Tears streamed down Hermione’s cheeks. She couldn’t think of a single response and just stared from the ring to the limp body of her true love.
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Hermione spent hours after the funeral just kneeling by the grave. Everyone had left soon after to ease the raw pain they all felt. Harry had initially insisted on staying but Hermione urged him to be with Ginny. Right after the Final Battle, he declared his still present love for her. After watching his friend die he didn’t want to waste another moment not being with the one he wanted. Their relationship just went up from there as they seemed to pick up right where they left off years ago.
“Why?” Hermione screamed at the sky. “Why did it have to be him? He was loyal, caring, and loving. Why did he have to go so early? There’s so much he wanted to experience. We were going to start a life together.” At this musing she instinctively looked at the ring that she wore on her left hand. “How can I go on?”
When night fell, Hermione finally decided she had to leave. The air got chilly and the shivering seemed more than she could handle. To top it off the grave-diggers had shown up to finally cover up the casket that held Ron and Hermione just couldn’t stand to watch him be buried. She walked to another tombstone that stood real high and could easily hide her. With a loud crack, Hermione left the graveyard and found herself standing in the living room of her parents’ home.
“Mom! Dad!” she yelled, “I’m here.” Since she usually arrived by floo powder she wanted to make sure her parents knew that she wasn’t a burglar. It was apparent that they were getting ready for bed as they descended the stairs still pulling on robes and tightening the belts.
“Sweetie, what’s the matter? We weren’t expecting you. Is everything okay?” her mom implored her. She immediately registered the puffy eyes and runny nose and pulled her into a loving hug that only moms know how to give.
“I just…It’s just…Do you remember my friend, my boyfriend, Ron?”
“Yes, dear. You wrote about him. Oh, did he break up with you honey?”
“No, mom, it’s not that. He’s…he’s…” Hermione just couldn’t seem to bring herself to say it. She had gone weeks without saying the words out loud and now her throat stuck. She took a deep breath and said, “He’s dead.” Hermione burst into tears and buried herself in her mom’s arms. She couldn’t hold back anything; she thought she had been all cried out until this new wave of completely acknowledging her loss came over her.
Her parents were at a complete loss for words. They had no idea this had happened and didn’t know of anyway to comfort their baby girl. Her dad went into the kitchen to warm up a cup of tea to hopefully calm Hermione or at the very least give her something to do as she slowly stopped crying. He put a bit of Brandy into it in hopes of also calming her down enough so she could get some rest.
The warmth of the drink did wonders for her body and mind as Hermione felt so weak from all the crying and the mental strain on her self. She eventually felt the full affects of fatigue. “Thanks, mom. Thanks, dad. I’m really tired though. Do you mind if I crash here for the night?”
“Of course not!” her dad insisted. “You can stay as long as you like, honey. This will always be your home.”
“Thanks.” Hermione gave both her parents big hugs and wished them goodnight as she made her way to her old bedroom. The room hadn’t changed at all since she moved out after completing Hogwarts. Her job with the Order required her to be closer to London so she bought a flat in the suburbs. She preferred to deal more with the wizarding world with the war going on. However, coming home always felt special. She ran her fingers over the many volumes of books she had, Muggle and Wizard written alike. They covered an entire wall of her bedroom. A few dolls and stuffed animals were here and there. The only pieces of furniture were her bed, desk, and dresser. She fell onto her soft and inviting bed and due to her exhaustion from the day and week before she immediately fell into a, thankfully, dreamless sleep.
In the room next door, the Drs. Granger stayed up a few more hours discussing the heartache their daughter was going through. They weren’t sure what to do about it or what could ease their only daughter’s pain; all they knew was that it killed them to see her in this broken and vulnerable state. However, in the early hours of the morning they had a plan to help Hermione to take her mind off her loss and to hopefully set her on the road to move on in life. They fell into an easy sleep awaiting the morning to present the plan to Hermione.