I’m Already There

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, the song “I'm Already There” by Lonestar (great song), or any readings/verses included in this story! Please do not flame if I've forgotten anything, a simple reminder in your review will do just fine.

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I'm Already There

Three weeks. Twenty-one days. 504 hours. 30,240 minutes…

Whichever way you decide to put it, that's how long the boy-who-lived, the man I loved, has been gone. We had finally gotten on with our lives…everyone thought he was really gone this time.

But we were wrong…

How do you explain to your three-year-old daughter that daddy isn't coming home tonight…or any other night for the rest of her life?

How do you tell your best friend that the prophecy was wrong? Because neither could survive the fight in the end…

How do you cope with the fact that the love of your life will never know that he was going to have a son?

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“I love you, Harry,” Hermione whispered into her husband's shoulder.

“I love you too, Mione,” Harry replied, his voice cracking.

“Daddy?”

“Yes, Love?” Harry smiled tearily as he squatted down next to his daughter.

“Who will chase away the monster's in my closet when you're gone?” Lily asked, tears welling up in her bright green eyes.

“Mummy will. Otherwise, Uncle Ron can, okay sweetie?” Harry grinned at her.

“You have to come back, because otherwise how will I grow up?” Lily told him after a minute, tears starting to slip down her cheeks.

“Don't cry, Lily. I promise I'll come back. Just be a good girl for mummy okay?”

“Okay,” Lily replied, wiping away her tears. “I love you, daddy,” she whispered as Harry wrapped his arms around her.

“I love you too,” Harry replied, getting choked up.

“Harry, it is time,” Albus Dumbledore's voice said softly.

“Bye sweetie. Bye Mione. I love you both,” Harry blinked back tears and gave Hermione one last kiss before following Dumbledore to the castle, where he would be departing from momentarily.

“Goodbye, Harry,” Hermione whispered, picking up a now crying Lily and apparating back to their home.

“Hermione?”

“I-I'm ready,” Hermione replied as she felt Ron's hand on her shoulder. She followed him to the back of the church, tears welling up at the sight of the casket.

“Mummy,” Lily's voice quivered from the ground.

“It's going to be okay, sweetie,” Hermione sighed, picking up her daughter, glancing at a red-eyed Weasley family.

“Hermione, dear, a-are you going to be all right?” Molly asked, putting her hand on her shoulder.

“Someday,” Hermione sniffled.

“We're ready,” the celebrant told Hermione gently; and she could only nod that she was too.

The first few notes of “Amazing Grace” on bagpipes brought Hermione to tears, and she watched as the all of the Weasleys, besides Ron, and her parents went and took their places at the front of the church.

Neville, Charlie, Fred, and George were pallbearers, and they proceeded first, taking the casket with them. Ron put a comforting arm around Hermione's shoulder, and Hermione hugged Lily to her and the trio made their way after the casket.

“Today we are gathered here together to celebrate the life of Harry Potter. A man that sacrificed everything for the lives of countless others. A loving husband and father. A best friend, a son, a hero.”

Hermione smoothed her daughter's dark red hair as Albus got up to do the first reading.

“A reading from the book of Ecclesiastes,” Dumbledore began, his voice quivering slightly.

“There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.

“A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.

“A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build.

“A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

“A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.

“A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.

“A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak.

“A time to love, and a time to hate; a time a war, and a time of peace…”*

Hermione could feel Ron's body shaking with silent sobs, and the shoulder of her blouse was wet with Lily's tears.

If the communion hymn, “On Eagle's Wings”, wasn't hard enough for the majority of those present to stay dry-eyed through, the song following it cracked even the hardest of those present.

He called her on the road
From a lonely cold hotel room
Just to hear her say I love you one more time
And when he heard the sound
Of the kids laughing in the background
He had to wipe away a tear from his eye
A little voice came on the phone
And said "Daddy when you coming home"
He said the first thing that came to his mind

I'm already there
Take a look around
I'm the sunshine in your hair
I'm the shadow on the ground
I'm the whisper in the wind
I'm your imaginary friend
And I know I'm in your prayers
Oh I'm already there

She got back on the phone
Said I really miss you darling
Don't worry about the kids they'll be alright
Wish I was in your arms
Lying right there beside you
But I know that I'll be in your dreams tonight
And I'll gently kiss your lips
Touch you with my fingertips
So turn out the light and close your eyes

I'm already there
Don't make a sound
I'm the beat in your heart
I'm the moonlight shining down
I'm the whisper in the wind
And I'll be there until the end
Can you feel the love that we share
Oh I'm already there

We may be a thousand miles apart
But I'll be with you wherever you are

I'm already there
Take a look around
I'm the sunshine in your hair
I'm the shadow on the ground
I'm the whisper in the wind
And I'll be there until the end
Can you feel the love that we share
Oh I'm already there
Oh I'm already there

“C'mon, Hermione,” Ron told Hermione gently, as they walked over to the cemetery, which was only a minute's walk away from the church.

“Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured…But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed.”**

The priest said a few more words to the close friends and family and then each Weasley placed a yellow rose on the top of the casket, followed by the Grangers, and finally it was Lily and Hermione's turn.

“Here, sweetie,” Hermione handed Lily a lily and Ron lifted her up so she could place the flower on the casket as well. Then Hermione stepped forwards and before placing the blood red rose with all the others, placed a gentle kiss on the cool marble of the casket, tears sliding down her red cheeks, and murmured, “I love you, Harry,” and stepped back as the love of her life slowly lowered into the ground…

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Author's Note: This is on the short side, I know, but it's sort of a prologue. Just a few things I'd like to say…I'm only familiar with a Catholic Mass, and I don't want to say anything wrong for any other religion, so that is just how funerals I've been to have gone…so if there are any errors - I'm sorry!

Please read and review and I'll try my hardest to get the next chapter out by Monday! - I'm going to be gone all weekend. Thanks! - Sarah May

* - Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

** - Isaiah 53: 4-5

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