I have never been so afraid of someone dying in my life. Even when my parents went into hiding, I wasn't as afraid as I was today. To think that with a twitch of a hand, he would've been gone. I didn't care if they took me, but a world without him, without his smiling face, his blue eyes that make my heart flutter with every look. Well, that wouldn't be a world at all. Plus, he had his family. At least my parents wouldn't remember me if I had died, I made sure of that. And even though it was all over, almost every danger gone, I still felt like I was going to lose him, like I was going to lose the feeling of his hand in mine. I squeezed his hand tighter.
Ron looked at me and smiled weakly. How brave of him to lose a brother and still care about me. His free hand reached out and brushed tears off my face. I hadn't realized I had been crying.
"Don't cry Hermione, it'll be alright," he promised, and I wanted to believe him so bad. He pulled me closer to him, never taking his hand anyway from mine. I could sit like this for all of eternity if he wanted me to. We did sit like that for awhile, watching people embrace, crying over those lost. We knew how they felt, we felt it, too.
You would never guess what the aftershock of a war felt like until you actually felt it. Even then, you would have a hard time trying to pinpoint the exact feeling. Numbness sets in at first. Disbelief that so many were gone, then gladness that they didn't die in vain and that they lost their lives to save the world. Then the hunt for your loved ones that had survived began. I didn't have to look for mine, I had never left his side. After that, it all comes down on you. So many emotions, you don't know how to handle them all. So, instead you cry until you can't produce anymore tears.
I looked at the lost ones, the ones who would always be remembered as heroes. There were so many people I knew; Tonks, Lupin, and Fred only being a few. My heart sank, and I began to think of everyone who had died in the unknown battles, like Mad-Eye and Dobby. I would make sure they were remembered as heroes as well, they deserved the honor. My eyes came across Colin Creevey's dead body and I flinched, remembering him as he had been when he first came to Hogwarts, thinking what his future would have been, the family and friends he was suppose to of had and how he wasn't even of age yet.
Emotions washed through me, too many for me to handle once again, and I buried my head in Ron's shoulder, staining his shirt with my tears. I felt him stroke my hair, trying to soothe me.
"It's okay," he told me, "it's all over." Except it wasn't. Too many people had died, it would never be over.
"It's so horrible," I said through my tears. I didn't look up. I didn't want to.
He seemed to understand, "Do you want to go somewhere else?"
I nodded into his shoulder. I felt him let go of my hand, and I was fixing to object, but more tears came. His arms went around me and helped me up from where we were sitting. No one at the Gryffindor table said anything as we left. He pulled me closer as we walked off, closer than I had ever been to him. I would've taken the time to dwell on how right it felt to be this close, but the tears wouldn't stop and it took me a minute to realize he was talking to me.
The tears slowed, and I stopped walking, pulling back so that I could wipe off my face. I glanced up at his face- it was masked in worry and sadness.
"Are you okay?" Ron asked. You could tell he really and truly cared, and if you couldn't tell by his voice, his eyes said it all.
I nodded and looked down, not letting my eyes betray me.
He sighed and put his hand under my chin, pulling my face up and forcing me to look straight into his eyes. My breathing stopped, as I am sure my heart did.
"Are you really okay?" I heard his voice trembled a little bit, it was so small that I wouldn't of heard it if I had been breathing. I realized how selfish I was being. He should be with his family right now, not taking care of me.
"You don't have to stay with me, you can go back to your family," I told him. My whole body screamed, No! as I said each ward. I wanted him to stay so badly.
"Do you want me to leave?" he asked sounding hurt, like I had slapped him.
"No," I answered truthfully.
"As long as you want me, I'm here."
I didn't have enough time to get a decent response, and as his lips pressed against mine, I didn't have enough strength to think one. I felt his arms fold around my waist, closing the distance I had put between us. My arms found their way around his neck, pulling him closer to me. It was so right, the way he felt to me. It was as if I was missing a piece of a puzzle, but now I found that piece, and putting it with the others created a masterpiece so beautiful, it seems as if my heart will only beat for it. I realized I had just created my art here in the hallways of Hogwarts. Reality broke through as I remembered that we were at Hogwarts and not alone in some imaginary bliss I had created. Against my will, I pulled back.
Ron gave me a confused look, but wrapped his arms around me and I felt his lips on my hair, "Are you ready to go back?"
"Yes," I was ready. I realized this is what I had needed, the knowledge that everything would be fine despite the odds, and as Ron grabbed my hand for about the fifth time that day, I knew he would be there for me as long as I wanted him. He could always give me what he had given me today. Closure.