Summer Pains

Hermione Granger awoke from a slight tapping sound coming from her window. She got out of bed and sleepily opened the window. An official looking owl flew in and landed on her bed, dropping a copy of the <I>Daily Prophet</I> onto it. She then paid the owl and watched it fly off into the distance. She groggily got dressed, picked up her copy of the <I>Daily Prophet</I> and headed downstairs for breakfast.

“Morning sweetie.” Her mother said as she sat down. Her dad wasn't there, and she guessed he was already at the office. She picked up some eggs, bacon, and toast, and put them onto her plate. She opened up her <I>Daily Prophet</I> as she was eating and began to read. The title on the front page caught her attention.

<center><b>Death Eaters Attack Little Whinging!</b></center>

<I>Wait a second. Isn't Little Whinging the town Harry lives in?</I> She thought to herself. She read through the rest of the article, tears forming in her eyes.

<center>According to Ministry officials, the muggle town of Little Whinging was attacked Saturday by none other than He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's own Death Eaters. Apparently they were looking for something in the houses. The Ministry officials arrived too late to help anyone caught in the attack…</center>

Hermione couldn't bring herself to read the rest of the article. She read the list of casualties and stopped at the one name she had feared to see.

<I>Harry Potter.</I>

She immediately dropped everything she had in her hands and started crying. She had never cried this much before. Mrs. Granger saw that her daughter was crying and came over to comfort her.

“Honey, what's wrong?” she asked gently.

“H-Harry…he's…he's-“ She couldn't bring herself to say it. To say it would make it true. She just pointed at the newspaper, which her mother picked up and read to herself. She read through the article and list of casualties, and realized why her daughter was upset.

“Oh honey I'm so sorry!” She immediately embraced her daughter, trying to comfort her. Although Mrs. Granger tried to stop it, she soon felt tears sliding down her cheeks.

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Hermione spent the rest of the day locked up in her room, crying and mourning for her best friend. Her parents had both taken the day off of work to be with her, but she wanted to be alone. She recalled all the memories of the times they were together, which just brought pain.

“Why?” she said to herself in the darkness of her room, “Why did he have to be taken from me? He was my best friend, and they stole him from me! Why did they have to kill the person that I…that I l-love!?!” She screamed into the night and then lay down, reminiscing on old memories, which soon put her to sleep.

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Remus Lupin was a wreck. He had lost all of his best friends, well maybe not all his best friends, but Wormtail was as good as dead to him, and Harry. Everyone that he held dear was now dead. He just sat on his bed, staring into the night, getting ripped apart on the inside from his grief. He could not control his grief. It kept him awake at night, and kept him from eating. Every time he tried to swallow something it seemed to want to be thrown back up. The only thing he could ever think of was <I>Why?</I>

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Ron Weasley was in a state of denial. He would not accept the fact that Harry was dead. Not Harry, his best friend, there's no way he could be dead. <I>There's just no way!</I> He thought to himself.

All the Weasleys were in a state of mourning for their fallen friend. Mrs. Weasley had sobbed non-stop, and Mr. Weasley had a sort of lost expression on his face. Ginny had run straight up to her room once she heard the news, and began crying as well.

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Albus Dumbledore was sad as well. No, sad isn't a strong enough word. Albus Dumbledore was absolutely and utterly depressed and full of grief. He had loved Harry like a son, and now he was gone. Gone forever from the face of the earth, never to return again.

Albus Dumbledore was also worried. Now that Harry was gone, there would be no one to stop Lord Voldemort. Only Harry could destroy him, but now Harry was gone. Lord Voldemort would now dominate the world.

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Hermione spent the next few days staying up in her room, neither sleeping nor eating. She was depressed. Her parents were getting worried about her. They tried to comfort her but she would push them away, wanting to be alone. She was mad at the Death Eaters. She was mad at Voldemort. She was mad at everyone who had planned the murder of Harry Potter. She would get her revenge someday.

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Remus Lupin was on the brink of insanity. He had faced so much grief in his life that he was beginning to go mad. He could not take it. He wanted to end his life now, get away from the pain and misery. He knew it was a selfish thing to do, but he wanted to escape. Escape away from all of his emotions.

He walked over to the kitchen in Grimmauld Place, and picked up a knife. He pointed it at his throat, and let the blade touch his skin. He closed his eyes, and tried to plunge the knife into his throat, but couldn't bring himself to do so. He just stood there for twenty minutes, with the knife in his hand pointed at his throat. He heard the front door open and footsteps come towards the kitchen.

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“REMUS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?” shouted a frightened Nymphadora Tonks. “PUT THE KNIFE DOWN!”

“No. I'm going to end my misery, right now. I've been in too much grief. My heart is broken and I'm torn up inside.” he answered, not lowering the knife.

“NOOOO!” She cried out and ran over to him and slapped the knife out of his hands.

Remus seemed to come to his senses, and staggered back, afraid of himself for what he was going to do a minute ago. He looked up at Tonks and saw that she was crying.

“I'm sorry Tonks. I've been through too much. I've lost everyone I love. I just can't take it anymore.” he said as tears began falling down his cheeks. Tonks embraced him, trying to calm him down.

“It's alright Remus. Just please; don't do that ever again. I don't want you to leave.” Tonks said while sniffling slightly.

They stayed in each other's arms for the rest of the night.

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“HARRY!”

Hermione woke up in the middle of the night from a dream she had been having. She was with Harry, and they were happy. They were a family, and having so much fun. Him and her were talking a moonlight stroll on the beach, hand in hand. They were just talking about everything that was on their minds. They then stopped and looked into each other's eyes. They lowered down, about to kiss, when Harry disappeared. That had been the part that had woken her up.

Hermione was in pain beyond anything she had felt before. She thought she would never recover from what had happened to her. All of her thoughts were focused on Harry. Thinking about him finally put her into an uneasy sleep.

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A/N: How is it so far? Does anyone like it? If you do…review. If you don't…review. Thanks!

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