The Greatest Thing You'll Ever Learn

Hey everyone! All the characters in this are J.K. Rowlings as you know. THIS IS THE REVISED edition. It may look familiar to a few of you, and that’s because it is. I completely forgot I was writing this last year. But I found it on my computer, and am back, and so the story will go on. I love this plot too much not to finish. (Which is what I have to do with the rest of my stories....*blushes* But this has been edited and tweaked a little bit, and there will be more coming soon. PLEASE REVIEW! It makes people like me who have no lives, and just want to write and be evaluated happy ;p

***

Its been almost a year now. Almost a year from the day that I learned exactly how it felt to have my heart ripped in two. And yet, according to the world, on the very same day I won the ultimate victory. You could’ve fooled me. Nothing matters to me like it used to. Not my friends, or my family, or any of the petty stuff I thought did. It makes me wish in my weakest of times, in the times I wake up screaming at night, that I had died, and I was no longer here in this world. They could fend for themselves. After all, I never got a say in what I was to do. I was always expected to be the ‘hero.’ Even in my strongest times, when I felt a hint of normalcy, I’d wish I could be with her, or have her here and me gone. She never deserved this. She never deserved any of it. But than again, neither did I. At least if she’d been spared, she’d have some chance of happiness. Because I know that I never will again. Not in this lifetime anyway.

I wasn’t always like this. Oh no, I’m a shell of my formal self. My days used to be mine. They were happy, and sad, and everything in between. I had feeling. Sure some days were like hell, but hey, that’s my life, I’ve gotten used to it. But none were ever like this. No, none could even compare. Because no matter what my days involved, they were always filled with laughter, friendship, and above all else, love.

***

The beginning of everything was the last days of summer before my seventh year. I had been allowed to stay at Ron’s due to enhanced security measures, and, according to Moody, the “utmost of protection.” We were wrapping up our last lazy days in an almost fake world. None of us waned to admit how bad things were becoming, and how close to the end we were getting. We were young and wanting to enjoy life. Is that so wrong? So we spent our days practicing Quidditch, learning new chess tips from Ron, and to Hermione’s pleasure (ugh) studying.

“It’s our seventh year! Honestly, what do you expect to do with your lives? Laze the days away? Not if I can help it. Now to the library, both of you! We’re getting the Head Boy and Girl letters from Hogwarts soon, and if I’m chosen I want to make sure I’m prepared,” She lectured, hands out her hips, a pout permanently fixed on her face.

“Honestly Mione, you’ve had your name down since you first walked in the door,” Ron exclaimed, eager to get back to his chocolate frogs.

“That, and you’ve been prepared for this ever since your first year. You’ve had more than enough practice on us,” Harry added teasingly.

She swatted them both playfully, but still pushed them towards the study.

“I don’t care. As your friend it’s my job to make sure you don’t fail and end up cleaning gutters for the rest of your lives.”

They both groaned but still followed her through the door. There was no use trying to fight her on this. Harry took a seat and pulled out a quill. He almost fell off his chair when Hermione set about thirty books in front of him.

“Happy reading,” she smiled sweetly, before setting herself in the opposite chair, with about double the number of books.

This was going to be a very long day.

Minutes crawled by, and a few ages later, an hour was up. Harry did not know how much longer he was going to be able to take this. He turned to look at Ron and saw him fast asleep, with a puddle of drool around his book. Just as Harry thought he was going to join him, there was a tap on the window. Hermione jumped up, and knocking Ron upside the head, raced to the window.

“Our letters!” She exclaimed, already tearing hers open. She threw Harry his, and plopped Ron’s down next to him. He stared groggily at it for a few minutes, before deciding he should probably open it. He had just picked it up, when a loud squeal made him drop it in surprise.

“I GOT IT!!” Hermione yelled. She danced around for a couple minutes, before running over to Ron, giving him a quick hug, and kissing him on the cheek. She than ran over to Harry, hugged him too, and went to kiss him. Harry didn’t see this coming however, and turned his head slightly to look Hermione in the eyes. Hermione kissed Harry straight on the lips, and it took a few seconds for either of them to realize what was happening. When they did, at the same time they pulled apart, and a blushing Hermione looked at Harry, unsure what to say.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry Harry. I really didn’t mean to.... to.... to you know....,” she added hastily.

“Of course, it’s fine,” Harry said, trying his best to dismiss the situation, but remember the feeling. The feeling of... He didn’t know. There was a long awkward silence before Hermione tapped his letter, shaking him from his thoughts.

“Aren’t you going to open it?”

“Oh right, sorry,” He turned to shoot Ron a glance, but saw his friend was still fumbling with his letter. Apparently he missed the whole exchange.

As Harry opened it, he ripped it a little too far, and everything started to fall out. Papers began to tumble out with school supply lists, the regular welcome back from the teachers, and then an odd little lump at the bottom. He bent down to sift through it, and his fingers grasped a thin badge. There were only two letters on it, ‘HB.’

Hermione saw it and exclaimed out loud, “Oh Harry! That’s great!” She went to hug him, but thought better of it, and just decided to smile.

Harry turned to Ron who apparently seemed to be listening now, and looked at him questioningly. “Are you okay about this mate? I know how you’ve been prefect for the past two years now and...”

Ron grinned and waved away the concerns. “Oh please, trust me Harry, the pleasure’s all mine. Always having to follow all the rules and be a good ‘role model.’ Good luck!”

Harry grinned and rubbed the badge softly. This year was starting out pretty good after all.

Hey guys! Second chapter! Thanks for all the encouraging reviews! Keep them coming!! Here is the second chapter! I hope you like it! There’s a few more ‘Harry/Hermione’ moments ;p. Oh! I don’t know how many of you have read my fic THE PATHS WE TAKE, but, as soon as this story is finished I’m revising it! (like this one) I loved it too much, and I’m kicking myself for stopping. But I will be reposting, because I think the year or so *sorry* that I haven’t been writing it, my writing has matured, and I want it to take a slightly different direction. I think at about the 4th chapter, things went where I didn’t want them to go. So I just wanted to let you know I’ll be starting that AFTER I finish this story. Just in case you want to check it out ;p So for now, enjoy!

***

I remember how anxious I was to get back to school, but how I also didn’t want to leave my protected burrow. I was being pulled between safety and danger, and knew which one I had to choose. Which one I was meant to choose. But that still didn’t make it easy. As the last days of summer flew by, I had a feeling this was it. I had just entered the path of no return, that long waiting period where you know you can’t go back, but yet everything’s not ready for you to go forward. And you just wait, and wait, not wanting to wait anymore. The worry and tension become so overwhelming, that you’ll do anything to escape it. I didn’t want this to happen to me. I couldn’t have this happen to me. Not if I was to succeed. If only I knew then how pointless it would be. How I should’ve just tried to have fun while I still could.

***

“Ronald Weasley! If you don’t get down here this instant, we’re leaving without you!” Mrs. Weasley bellowed, hands on her hips, her cheeks flushed.

“For the last time mum! I said we’re coming.” With this two trunks came flying over the banister and went smashing into the flower vase on the table. Mrs. Weasley’s favorite flower vase. She flew to its side, and within seconds had it fixed and on its stand. There was a long silence before there was a mumble from the top of the stairs, “Harry did it.”

Mrs. Weasley composed herself as they walked guiltily down the stairs. “I’m not even going to speak of it now. Although if you miss the train, you’ll have a whole year we can discuss it.”

At that, everyone seemed to jump into a frenzy. Trunks were whirled away, owls packed, and before you knew it, they were all there, getting everything loaded on to the train.

“Well if I knew it would work that well I’d have just threatened you with actually having to talk to your mother in the first place!” She stated a little huffily. With a quick goodbye kiss, and some last minute warnings, the four of them were stowed away on the train. Ginny turned to them and smiled, “If you don’t mind, I think I’m gonna go and get a cart with my friends. There’s so many to choose from! It seems that half the school is missing,” with this she turned and walked out, and as soon as the door closed, Harry muttered quietly, “That’s because they are.”

“Missing? Harry, I’m sure they have reasons for not coming. But it doesn’t mean they’ve all been kidnapped or something,” Hermione corrected.

“Is that what you heard? Funny, I heard some of them weren’t coming to school because they were morning the loss of their families. I guess you could think of it either way though.”

“Harry!” Hermione gasped, “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Yeah, I know Mione, it’s just that the first day back in the real world, and you discover half of your schoolmates are either dead, scared, or dealing with deaths in the family. Why couldn’t someone contact us and let us know? Maybe then we could help.”

“Because Harry,” Ron said, “They needed to make sure we got through the summer so we could help in the long run.”

“Long run? What long run? People are dying! Finnighan and Cho are dead! Dead! They were our friends. And they died because of one person’s longing to bring evil to the world. It’s not right.”

“Evil isn’t right,” Hermione said, absentmindedly touching his arm. Neither of them seemed to notice, until the sweet cart came, and they had to get up. Hermione got caught in Harry’s robe when he went to stand up, and she toppled onto him, forcing Harry down pretty hard onto the seat. He let out an ‘ouf’ and Ron muttered, “Having a little too many sweets there Hermione?”

Hermione pulled herself up, and ignoring Ron, turned to Harry. “I’m sorry Harry. I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

Laughing, Harry muttered, “I’m fine. It’s gonna take someone bigger than you to crush me.”

Together the three walked out into the hallway to buy their assortment of treats. Harry noticed with a sigh that there was a collection tin for the Chang family. He dropped a few galleons in, and tried to get it off his mind.

The ride went by pretty quickly after that, as Harry and Hermione had to excuse themselves to get ready for their announcement as Head Boy and Girl. Once they got off the train and got all the first years set straight, they made their way to the head table where they would be sitting. After Dumbledore made all the required announcements, and all the proper condolence wishes to the unfortunate families so far, the sorting began. This was a record low for first years. Only thirty-five. This is compared to the seventy-two in Harry’s class. After they were sorted, Harry noticed with a sickening pain that nineteen of the students were sorted into Slytherin. Definitely not a good sign. He looked over to Hermione, and saw the realization dawn on her. Her eyes swept around the hall as if to double check, and when she took a sharp intake of breath, he knew she had confirmed it.

Just as his stomach was starting to rumble, Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat.

“Students. Again, welcome back. As you may know, every year we have a Head Boy and Girl. They make sure the school is running properly, talk to you about any problems you may have, and are generally just an example you should follow. They have the right to use punishment, so I suggest you heed their words. They are not picked for no reason, and they report directly to me. They have courage, smarts, and above all else, friendliness. So if you need anything, I’m sure they’d be more than happy to help. Now, let me introduce them to you, Miss Hermione Granger, and Mr. Harry Potter.”

They both stood up, and Dumbledore quietly took his seat. A round of applause followed, which was set off by a jeer from the far right. Harry turned to smile at Dumbledore before sitting down, and flipped a finger behind his back, hoping Draco would see. As he sat down., he wasn’t disappointed. “That wasn’t very friendly Potter!” “Neither would me giving you a weeks detention, Draco.” With this and a smug smile he turned back to Dumbledore.

“As I was going to say, you don’t have to worry about those powers being mistreated. They will be closely monitored,” he stated, his eyes twinkling mischievously before he turned to his plate and summoned the food. There was an instant chatter and Hermione poked Harry hard in the ribs.

“Great way to make a good first impression.”

“What?” Harry asked innocently, “He started it.”

As the students slowly trickled out of the dinning hall, Harry and Hermione were having a contest to see who could get to their new dorms first. Racing up and down the corridors screaming at each other they were gonna win, they must have looked the image of role models. Harry had just turned the corner, and was sprinting for the door when a foot was suddenly in front of him, sending him sprawling face first into a pile of pink pillows. Hermione ran to the door, turned to Harry, stuck out her tongue, and then turned back, when she got a very sour expression on her face.

“NO,” She muttured. “No, no, no.”

Harry was up in an instant to see what was wrong, and felt his heart sink too.

“What? Why are you staring at me like that? I challenge you to a duel, both of you, with my eyes closed! There’s never been a better knight to walk the earth, no sir-ee.”

“Hello Sir Codgen. We’d almost forgotten about you. But now we’ll have the whole year to spend with you. Great fun, eh?” With this Hermione said the password, climbed in the entrance, and as soon as Harry was in slammed the door.

“Of all the people! It had to be him. He drives me mad! When I see Dumbledo-” She stopped mid-sentence as she turned around to see the room for the first time. The common room was stunning. It was decorated in their house colors with rich golds and reds everywhere. There were two big bookshelves on the side of the room, filled with books on every subject ones ever wanted to read about. There were also all the latest of the Quidditch magazines and newspapers. Apparently Dumbledore has done some studying on what his Head Boy and Girl liked. There were a half dozen squishy chairs and couches, complete with throw blankets and pillows. The hearth was huge with a big stone fireplace. Frames of past head boys and girls linned the walls, leading out of the room. There was a long corridor which spit into two wings. Harry followed the left and Hermione took the right.

It turned out they had found their rooms, and Harry slowly circled around his, not sure this was real. In the middle was a deep green overstuffed bed, with tons of pillows and blankets. Quidditch posters lined the walls that really set off the gold painting. All of his stuff had already been unpacked, and Hedwig had her own perch to land on by the window. He had his own desk and furniture, with a new set of quills and personalized stationary. He went to go and check on Hermione, and found she too loved her room. Everything was the same, except poetry lined her walls, and her bed was a deep blue. She saw him enter and squealed, “Harry! Isn’t this wonderful!?”

“It’s amazing,” he whispered breathlessly.

They both headed out to the common room to take everything in. Hermione immediately pounced on the books, and over her shoulder muttered, “It’s going to be different though, without Ron here and all.”

“Yeah, it’ll definitely be quieter. I’m sure he’ll be here all the time anyway. But maybe this year I‘ll get some undisturbed sleep. He snores like the fat lady’s singing,” he laughed and turned to look at the portraits.

He noticed some familiar faces from his years at Hogwarts. Some of the poses funny, some of them serious. It really showed the personalities through it. Apparently you could take whatever kind of picture you wanted, although it wasn’t magical. He kept on looking at them, getting further and further back, laughing at all the funny pictures, when he saw something that made his heart stop. It was a brown eyed boy, tall and gangly like himself and a pretty little red head, with wisdom beyond her age showing through her face. They had probably the most simplistic picture, just two people sitting smiling at the camera, lounging on one of the overstuffed couches. But if you looked closer you noticed things. How the girl had her head on his shoulder, and their arms were wrapped tight around each other. How he had his hand in her hair, as if he’d been playing with it, and her arm was pinching his side, as if telling him to stop moving for the camera. They looked so happy and young, and in love. He couldn’t believe it. Those were his parents.

“Hermione!”

“Huh?” She muttered, obviously engrossed in the book.

“Come here! Look what I found!”

Take her time she closed the book and walked over, looking at him quizzically. He pointed to the picture and she looked up, shock registering on her face. She looked at the picture a while longer, and then turned to face him smiling, “I guess I’m gonna have to watch out for that Potter charm.”

He smiled, and slid his arms around her shoulders. “Yeah I guess you are,” he laughed, still continuing to look up at his parents and wonder if he’d ever be like that one day.