Title: Someone's Watching Over Me
Author: a muggle named Caity
Ships: H/Hr
Words: 1,990
Rating: PG
Summary: And Hermione … I wan-want you to know th-that I'll always be watching over you and that I-I … love you …" As the last word left his mouth, his last breath followed and Hermione knew that he had just died. This is a one-shot on how Hermione comes to terms with Harry's death.
Disclaimer: Ok, you know the drill: This is not mine, it is not yours, it is not any fan fiction site's either. It all belongs to J.K. Rowling, so please don't sue.
A/N: This was written for a challenge posted by HermyOwnPuckle here on Portkey, except it was changed from R/L to H/Hr. It is based off of the song: Someone's Watching Over Me by Hilary Duff. Enjoy!
Also, characters are a bit OOC, just a warning.
***
Found myself today
Oh I found myself and ran away
Something pulled me back
Voice of reason I forgot I had
All I know is you're not here to say
What you always used to say
But it's written in the sky tonight
So I won't give up
No I won't break down
Sooner than it seems life turns around
And I will be strong
Even if it all goes wrong
When I'm standing in the dark I'll still believe
Someone's watching over me
Seen that ray of light
And it's shining on my destiny
Shining all the time
And I wont be afraid
To follow everywhere it's taking me
All I know is yesterday is gone
And right now I belong
To this moment to my dreams
So I won't give up
No I won't break down
Sooner than it seems life turns around
And I will be strong
Even if it all goes wrong
When I'm standing in the dark I'll still believe
Someone's watching over me
It doesn't matter what people say
And it doesn't matter how long it takes
Believe in yourself and you'll fly high
And it only matters how true you are
Be true to yourself and follow your heart
So I won't give up
No I won't break down
Sooner than it seems life turns around
And I will be strong
Even if it all goes wrong
When I'm standing in the dark I'll still believe
That I won't give up
No I won't break down
Sooner than it seems life turns around
And I will be strong
Even when it all goes wrong
When I'm standing in the dark I'll still believe
That someone's watching over
Someone's watching over
Someone's watching over me
Someone's watching over me
***
Chapter: Watching Over
As the many mourners in black cloaks who attended the funeral walked away from the site silently, one devastated, weeping woman remained. She was still trying to shake the feeling of dread away from her. She felt somewhat responsible for his death, if only she had gotten to him quicker.
As she looked out at the fall scenery, she couldn't help remembering how much he loved this time of year. The leaves on all the trees changing, floating to the ground ever so softly, so peacefully. She remembered how the autumn wind used to blow through his raven hair and make it even messier then it had been. And it hurt to know that she'd never be able to run her fingers through that mess ever again.
She knew she shouldn't be crying, he had told her not to, but she couldn't help it. Just all this remembering, and the many wonderful memories they shared, it was all just too overwhelming.
She could remember the night he died perfectly, it was like a wonderful dream turned cold, hard nightmare, she could remember it so well …
She watched from a far as the dark-hooded form of Lord Voldemort fell to the wet, muddy ground. They had finally found the last horcrux and had it destroyed, taking Voldemort along with it. It was raining heavily, but she could still see the silhouette of the-boy-who-lived standing there a top the hill on which the two wizards -- good and evil -- had battled to the finish.
She was so happy that he had come out victorious and had lived as well. She couldn't break the enormous urge to run to him and hold him in her arms, and before she knew it, she was running over to do just that.
As she grew nearer, his gaze turned to her. He was smiling triumphantly and waiting with his arms out stretched. She broke into a grin as well, but it soon faded at the emerging site before her. A black-hooded figure came up behind him, a rigid, rusty dagger held high in his hand, all she could do was shout his name, but it was too late. As soon as he made to turn around, the death eater plunged the dagger straight into his back and disapparated.
"HARRY!" she screamed as she started to sprint toward the now bloodied form lying still on the murky ground of the battle field.
She slid down next to him as he let out a painful groan, "Hermione …"
"Harry," she cried, staring frightened at his torn figure, the dagger point showing clearly through his chest.
"Hermione," he repeated shakily, "I want you to know something before I go …"
"Harry, you aren't going anywhere," his breathing now coming in short, ragged breaths, "except maybe the hospital wing." She tried to make a small joke out of the situation.
Harry stared seriously at her, "Hermione, don't … you know I'm dying …."
"No, Harry, it'll be fine, I'll get someone here to help you. I'll levitate you inside; you're going to be fine." Her eyes started to well up with tears, she knew he was going to die; it was clearly a mortal wound.
"Hermione, I-I need to tell you something …" Hermione cut him off.
"No," she stated firmly, "you won't, you won't die, Harry, you can't die …" she told him desperately. "This is all my fault!"
By now, Harry's head was resting peacefully in her lap, his blood drenching her already dirty, torn up robes, but she could care less, "I want you to know …" he started, completely ignoring her last statement. "… that I'll always be with you, no matter what … hap-happens …."
Hermione was now crying freely, shaking her head violently at his stabbing words. She couldn't take this, she knew he was dying, oh how she knew, but she didn't want to accept it. Her tears were dropping one-by-one onto his dirt-enriched face as his eyes fluttered slightly to look at her.
"Please don't cry, 'Mione. I need you to be strong for me, ok? Th-this time, you need to be the strong one. Please don't bre-break down on me."
She didn't say anything, but forcefully tried to hold back her tears, for his sake.
"'Mione, I want you to tell the Weasley's how much I love them and that they ca-can always find me in their hearts," he paused for a moment, coughing up blood. "And I want you to tell everyone that Voldemort is gone … for good …."
"Harry …." Hermione choked as his eyes fluttered shut.
"And Hermione … I wan-want you to know th-that I'll always be watching over you and that I-I … love you …." As the last word left his mouth, his last breath followed and Hermione knew that he had just died.
"Oh, Harry," she spoke to the body of the boy she had loved for so long, tears
streaming down her face, "I love you too …. This is all my fault." And she sat there, the rain beating down
heavily upon her, rocking his lifeless body back and forth, for she didn't even know how long. All she cared about
was that she had just lost her best friend and the love of her life. <I/>
As the nineteen-year-old woman replayed his death over and over in her mind, she took no notice to the person who had just come up beside her. Coming out of her daze, she slowly turned to face the figure and was not surprised to find that her redheaded friend was there. She should have known.
"Hermione," Ron hesitated, "are you alright?"
Hermione gave him a small smile, trying to hold back her tears looking off into the distance, "Better then to be expected, considering the situation." She gave him a weak, humorless laugh.
Ron studied her for a few moments, "You love him, don't you?"
She gave him a quizzical look, "Of course I do, and I love you too. What ever made you think that I didn't?"
"No, I mean, that's why it didn't work out between us this last year, because you love him. I mean, you really, really love him," the eighteen-year-old man stated.
She turned to look straight at her fiery-haired friend, staring daggers at him, she angrily replied, "Our best friend just died and you want to talk about what happened to our relationship?!"
Ron was startled, "No, I'm just asking, I mean after all that's happened …"
Hermione nodded. "I'm sorry Ron, but yeah, I do love him, so much …" she suddenly burst into tears and Ron pulled her tight to him.
"It's ok Hermione, let it all out, let it all out," he repeated soothingly in her ear.
"No," Hermione cried to his chest, "I can't, he told me not to right before he left, I can't, I can't …" she drifted off as another sob hit her.
"But, Hermione, you can't stop unless you finally let it all out," he reassured her, "so I'm right here, and I'll hold you until you do. Harry would have wanted you to have it done with, so it's ok, just let it out."
Ron held her to him for what seemed like hours, but he didn't mind. He loved his friend and knew that in order for her to move on, she needed to do this. And before he could stop himself, he joined right in, letting out a strangled groan then letting his tears fall into her bushy brown hair.
"This is all my fault," Hermione suddenly blurted out.
"What?" Ron asked her confusedly, wiping the tears from his face with his large hands.
"If I had gotten there quicker, I could have warned him faster or saved him … It's all my fault he's dead," Hermione sniffled.
Ron couldn't believe what he was hearing, not that he believed any of it; it was that she could have done nothing and she was blaming herself.
"Hermione," Ron began firmly, "It was NOT your fault, you hear me! It was not!"
Ron only held her tighter as she let out another sniffle. "Oh, but Ron, you see it is! If I had gotten there seconds earlier, he'd be alive today! He would!"
"'Mione-" Ron started again, but was cut off.
The freckle-faced redhead stared bewildered at the bushy-haired Gryffindor as she disentangled herself from him and again, shot the daggers of death at him before exploding, "Only Harry can call me that! Don't ever call me that again!"
"I'm sorry Hermes, I didn't know," Ron replied wide-eyed, gaping at his remaining best friend.
Hermione's face softened as she apologized, "No, I'm sorry, you didn't know, it's just saying that name brings it all back."
Ron pulled her back into a hug as he said gently, but firmly, "It's ok, but for Merlin's sake Hermione, I'll say it again, it's not your fault. Even if you had gotten there earlier, he still could have died. And I'm positive Harry wouldn't want you to blame yourself, he knew there was nothing you could have done."
"Are you sure?" she asked shakily, lone tears running down her rosy cheeks.
"Yes, he would have never wanted you to blame yourself, he loves you and he knows it is not your fault," Ron reassured her.
Finally, after many minutes of sheer silence, Hermione pulled away, all her tears spent and looked into Ron's eyes, "Thank you."
Then for what seemed like an eternity, they stared down at their best friend's grave marker, neither one uttering a single word. They both sort of drifted off into their own little worlds, each remembering the good times they all had spent together.
Suddenly, Ron broke the silence, "Are you ok now, Hermione?"
Hermione considered this, she did feel somewhat better, having finally been able to officially break down and let it all out. She started feeling reassured that it wasn't her fault, but she would have to admit, that would still take a little bit of time to completely realize. But it was like a refresher where she didn't need to cry anymore, she was spent. She remembered everything Harry told her that awful night, and she decided to respect his wishes and be strong for everyone else.
"Yes, it's like I have finally gotten something off my chest, you know? I'm spent and I'm going to do what Harry wanted from me, he wanted me to be strong for everyone and I think now I can finally be that."
"But, you don't have to do everything Harry would have wanted. Hermione, its ok to break down every once in a while, you have to, it's the only way to move on," Ron told her matter-of-factly.
"Ron, I can move on, my tears are spent and I'll be ok, I think I finally feel right with this and I can finally move on." She moved over and gave Ron another hug. And at that moment, looking up into the pale blue sky, she could have sworn that she saw a cloud transfigured Harry smiling down at her from above, before flooding back into the sea of white and blue.
She smiled as she added, pulling out of their hug, "After all, someone's watching over me."
***
~*Finite*~
A/N: I hope you liked! Please leave me a review, I don't care how long. I wrote this in two hours for a challenge, so please don't send flames if it was terrible. But I can deal with the constructive criticism.