You Promised

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Story Title: You Promised
Rating: PG13
Any warnings to readers (e.g. slash, other ships)? character death, hints of R/L
Alternate Location (URL), if any: http://www.fanfiction.net/~piinkiice
Word count for this installment: 2,761
Summary: Harry dies, leaving Hermione alone and vulnerable. How will she cope? What about the people around her?
Author Note: This was posted a while back on the ficlet/cookies forum….as always, read & review…ENJOY!


You Promised


“Hermione, I need to go.” Harry stood over Hermione who was doing her homework in her usual spot in the Gryffindor common room.

“Hang there for a minute, Harry. I'm almost finished….done! What was that you said? Sorry, I wasn't really listening.” A blush crept up to Hermione's cheeks.

“I said, I need to go.” Hermione looked at him as if he had three heads.

“Go where? Harry, what in Merlin's name are you on about?”

“I can't tell you here. Can we go for a walk? We have an hour before curfew.”

Hermione looked at him curiously, but asked no questions.

“Accio cloaks!” Harry announced, catching the cloaks effortlessly as they whizzed right at him. “See?” Harry said, “My quidditch skills have do have some purpose.”

“Yeah, yeah, we have to go soon - curfew is almost over and I still have loads of revisions to do…,” Hermione said with a quick and chaste kiss on the lips.

~*~

“'Mione, you know about the prophecy. Well, I spoke to Dumbledore today.” They sat down in front of Sir Cadogan's portrait. Fortunately, he wasn't there to challenge them to a duel. “Anyway, `Mione, Professor Dumbledore thinks it's time for me to go. Shacklebot and Tonks have been training me, and they believe I'm ready to take on the task. Hermione, I'm going to go for Voldemort in a week.” Harry sat, nervously waiting for a response or some kind of advice.

Hermione looked up at him, her anger and fear evident in her eyes. “MERLIN, HARRY! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?! What if you die? How will I know if you get hurt? How will I know, Harry?”

“I promise you I'll come back. In case I don't though, I've worked something out with the Ministry. They'll owl you.”

“If you don't come back…how will I live?”

“You'll move on.”

“No, I won't.”

“I love you, Hermione Granger.”

”I love you, Harry Potter.” Harry leaned in and kissed her full on the mouth, passion and lust increasing by the second. They stood up, and after a peck on the nose, Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and they made their way back to the Gryffindor Tower.

~*~

It had been almost three months since Harry left and although Hermione wasn't depressed, she definitely didn't smile as often anymore. She became incredibly nervous whenever an owl came anywhere near her, afraid of the news it would bring.

One day, while leaving the Great Hall, a great black owl swooped in and landed right in front of Hermione. With shaking hands, and blurry eyes, Hermione opened the letter even though she didn't really need to. She knew what was inside.

A small piece of parchment fell out, and she immediately recognized Harry's handwriting. She put it in her robes to read later in private, and started to read the thick, fancy Ministry letter.

We regret to inform you of the passing of Mr. Harry James Potter, son of James and Lily Potter. We shall remember him fondly and warmly.
Age: 17(1980-1998)
Date of Death: February 9th, 1998
Time of Death: 12:45 PM
Place of Death: ________
Date of memorial service and reading of the will TO BE ANNOUNCED.

He was dead. Her one true love was dead. All she felt was the bitter lump rising in her throat, and all she heard was her heart beating in her ears. All of this, for nothing. She didn't even know where his body lay. His body. Lying in the cold February snow somewhere. A million thoughts rushed into her head and she couldn't help but scream.

“No. I can't. I - no! No! He promised! He promised me he'd come back!” She fell to the ground of the Great Hall, her fists banging the stone floor. Her sobs reverberating off the walls. “He promised me! He promised me he'd come back! Why didn't he come back? Why?!” The entire school was quiet, simply watching her, wondering what had happened. Not even Malfoy and his cronies had the heart to tease her now.

She didn't notice when the teachers surrounded her, each reading the letter one by one. She didn't feel when Madam Pomfrey forced a potion into her mouth and didn't take note of being taken to her dormitories to rest. Her Harry was gone.

~*~

Sunlight jabbed at Hermione's closed eyelids. She turned her head, but the relentless rays of sun wouldn't go away. Suddenly, she felt her chest tighten and breathing slow, then stop altogether. She felt as if she was trying to breathe underwater and began to flail her arms and legs like a swimmer kicking towards the surface. She crashed the surface and sat bolt upright, gasping for air, her eyes wide. She was in her dormitory. Deep red hangings surrounded her bed. Opening the curtains, she saw the glossy wooden floors. This was her room. She was safe. No…something was wrong. The agony of the day before returned. Her last image of Harry haunted her: “I promise you I'll come back…I love you, Hermione Granger…” With a smile and a passionate kiss leaving her weak in the knees, he had left. Left her forever. A new batch of tears slowly made their way down her face, running down her neck and
down her chest. She barely noticed.

Hermione sat under the tree by the lake. Not moving, not blinking. It was hard to tell if she was even breathing. She heard footsteps, but was too tired to see who they belonged to. She felt someone sit beside her. Who was it? She waited for them to speak. She assumed it was one of her friends. Why couldn't she remember their names??

“Hermione.” Oh, that's right, Ron. That was his name. Hermione lifted her head ever so slightly, just so he would know it was okay to continue talking. “'Mione…I need to talk to someone. You're the only one who knew him as well as I did. Better, even. I tried talking to Luna, but it just wasn't the same.” He took a deep breath in. “I miss him.”

“I know. Me too.” Hermione moved closer to Ron, and he wrapped her in a brotherly hug.

“I can't believe it happened. It's not fair! It's not right…he defeated Voldemort for Merlin's sake! And he had to die?!” Ron tried to control his breathing.

Hermione felt hollow, as though some giant hand had reached in and scooped out her insides. On the outside, she was Hermione Granger. On the inside, she was nothing.

“Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever be happy again.” Hermione stated, her face blank.

“Me too. He was as much of a brother to me as you are a sister.” Ron said, trying to prevent his voice from breaking, and his eyes from tearing.

“I keep thinking Harry will start walking down the hill, towards this tree. He loved this tree. I keep thinking I'll wake up and this will have been a bad dream.”

“More like a nightmare.”

They sat in silence for some time each wanting to break it, but not knowing how.

“Ron?”

“Hmm?” Ron looked at Hermione. His eyes were bloodshot, as if trying his very hardest not to cry. “Through the memorial, stick close to me, okay? I don't want to fall apart.”

“You're allowed.”

Hermione nodded. She knew she was allowed…didn't mean she wanted to. “Ron? Do you think Harry can see us? Sitting here right now?”

“I hope so…”

“Harry never got to grow up. Well, not completely, anyway.”

“At least he knew love. Harry was in love with you. You were all he talked about. Besides, he has people in heaven who love him. Sirius, Lily, James…”

“Yeah. Will he remember us? When we get to heaven? Will he remember who we are and how much we love him?”

“Hermione, when we get to heaven, Harry will be right at the gates, just waiting to show us off.”

~*~

“MS. GRANGER!” Snape's voice had snapped her out her out of her reverie. Apparently he had been calling on her quite a few times now. Ignoring the pitying glances from the Gryffindors and the sniggers from the Slytherins, Hermione politely addressed her professor.

“Yes, Professor?”

“I asked you to come to my desk, Granger.” Snape spat out maliciously.

“Oh.” With a small sigh, Hermione gingerly stood up and slowly made her way to Snape's table.

“What was it you wanted, sir?” Hermione found it difficult to make eye contact with her teacher. Actually, she found it difficult to make eye contact with anyone these days.

Once he was sure the students were back to work and not trying to listen in on their conversation, Severus Snape addressed the young girl. “As I am sure you are well aware, your Mr. Potter left behind no family. I have no intention of discarding his unreturned homework assignments. They were, as much as I hate to admit it, quite good.” Only then did Hermione's tears and runny nose come to his attention. At this, Snape felt guilty for bringing up the death of Harry Potter and attempted to soften his tone.

“Excuse me, professor, but I was his family.” Hermione interrupted. “And Ron was his family. All of the Weasleys were his family. ALL OF HOGWARTS WAS HIS FAMILY! Hell, even YOU were his family.” At this, the entire potions class stopped working, simply gaping at Hermione. Yelling at Snape? Not even yelling, but cursing too! They definitely wanted to see this.

To their surprise, however, Snape did not give her detention or punish her in any way. He practically ignored her entire outburst.

“Ms. Granger, the point of me calling you up here was to give you Harry's assignments. If you would like, you might do well to see Pomfrey about a Calming Draught.”

“Snape called Harry by his name. Not even Potter. Harry would've loved to see that…” Hermione thought to herself. Finally remembering that she was still standing at Snape's desk, she nodded to him and turned on her heels. She packed up her parchments and extra quills, and oblivious to the rest of the class gawking at her, left the dungeons, Harry's papers in her hand.

She had meant to go to her dormitories. It was, after all, almost lunch time. She hadn't been able to eat properly since the news of Harry's death reached her. But thinking about Harry again only made her depressed again. Crying, still, she slumped to the ground. She didn't notice that she had turned left instead of right when she left Snape's classroom. She didn't notice that she was sitting on the cold, cold dungeon floor in a place unfamiliar and never tread upon by her. She only noticed that her saliva was thick in her mouth. Gathering up her courage, she looked down at Harry's papers. She noticed in the margins he had written:
Hermione Granger-Potter
Mrs. Hermione Potter
Mrs. Hermione Granger-Potter
Mrs. Potter
Hermione Potter
Mr. and Mrs. Harry Potter
H + H = <3

She smiled, reminiscing about her beloved. He had loved her, and she thought that his margin noting was adorable, yet sad. He had loved her. Had. UGH! She hated that word. She hated him! How could he leave her like this?! He promised to come back! He promised! She sat there, unable to tell how long, crying. No, she was sobbing. Sobbing so hard, her body convulsed with hiccups. This is how Snape had found her.

“Come, child. Get up.” Hermione looked up, confused as to where the stern yet warm voice was coming from. It was Snape - wait, SNAPE?!

“Get up!” Too shocked for words, Hermione jumped to her feet. She frantically tried to brush her hair out of her eyes and straighten her clothing. She knew there was no use trying to wipe her face.

“Yes, sir?”

“What are you doing here? You do know you're at the entrance to my chambers, do you not, you idiot child?”

“Sorry sir. I didn't realize. I'll be on my way now. Sorry again, sir.”

As Hermione turned to leave, she heard her Professor call out to her. “Granger. Go to Madam Pomfrey. She'll give you what you need.” Hermione nodded, knowing Snape was offering more than just a trip from the dungeons with no punishment. He was offering her a truce.

“It might also do you well to know, Granger, that I respected Potter. You might not have ever known that, but it's true. I only pushed because I knew his potential.” It looked as though it took Snape great pain to say it, and smiled at her professor.

“Thanks. You know, professor, it might do you well to know that this is the first time I've truly smiled since I got the letter.”

With that, Hermione turned on her heels knowing everything had changed between them, yet everything was exactly the same.


After a quick visit to Madam Pomfrey, Hermione made her way up to her dormitory. Once she was settled under her covers for a nap, she pulled out the letter from her robes she had never read. As she read, she cried even more. She thought she had cried herself out….guess not.


My dear, dear Hermione:
If you're getting this, then I've died. I don't know if you'll get this after I defeat Voldemort (which thanks to your support, I know I will) or after we've grown old together. If you get this because I died vanquishing the Dark Lord, then I want you to know that I was planning on asking you to marry me. I love you, `Mione. If I died after we were married and lived to a ripe old age, I want you to know that even though we may have had our arguments, nothing in the entire world means more to me than you. I love you with my entire heart and soul, and I'm waiting for you up here.
I love you more than you could ever fathom.
Xoxo,
Your Harry.

Hermione carefully placed the letter in her trunk, and closed her puffy eyes for a nap.


Hermione woke to a gentle weight on her bed. She sat upright, confused. “Hi, Luna.”

“Hermione.”

“Um…can I help you with something?” What in Merlin's name was Loony Lovegood doing in her room? On her bed, no less. Sure, she was Ron's girlfriend, but Hermione had never felt any sort of connection to her.

“Hermione, what you're feeling right now, doesn't ever really go away. Not completely. I know because I watched my mother die. Anyway, I'm just telling you that you're never going to be the person you were like before Harry died.” Hermione looked at Luna. Was she trying to make her feel better? Because it wasn't working…

“The person you were before is gone. It died with Harry. It's more like…something inside of you breaks and your body finds a way to compensate for it. Like if you busted your right hand, you figure out how to the use the left one. And sure, you might resist for a while because it's not fair. You have to learn all this stuff again that no one else does. Eventually your body takes over and it figures it out for you and you're glad. Because if it were up to you, Hermione, you'd just look at your busted hand forever. Trying to figure out and remember what it was like before.” (A/N: Luna's monologue adapted from the WB's Everwood, episode The Last of Summer.)

Whoa. That was deep. “Thanks Luna. You're a wonderful friend.”

Luna smiled. A genuine smiled that reached all the way to her eyes. “I don't know if you've seen these yet, but the Quibbler dedicated all of this week's papers to Harry. You can have these if you'd like.”

“Thanks.”

“You know, I've noticed you haven't eaten in a while. Want to go down to the kitchens?”

Hermione heaved herself out of bed. “You know, Luna, I am kind of hungry.”

Arm in arm, Luna and Hermione headed down to the kitchens, smiles on both of their faces.

~*~

It took many years for Hermione to finally accept the death of her beloved. Even when she was married and had grown old, from time to time, when she was alone she still pulled out the letter Harry had sent to her and cried, remembering her first and only true love. And when Hermione reached the gates of Heaven, who was there but her one and only Harry, just waiting to show her off.

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