Authors Note: First off I want to apologise. I AM SO BEYOND SORRY. I had so many issues come up while working on this chapter. First I had a horrible case of writers block, I knew what I wanted but I just couldn't seem to get it on paper the way I liked it. Then my computer got eaten by viruses. It disabled my virus scanned and my spy ware scanner so it was telling me my computer was fine, but it clearly wasn't. Eventually I managed to get on the internet in safe mode and do a remote scan which told me I had 3 Trojan horses and about a mountain of spy ware. Needless to say I got it fixed. I am very sorry for the extreme delay though, so without further ado. Chapter 10! (and remember. I still own nothing except my plot)
At the first hints of light outside her window, Hermione's eyes fluttered open, red and puffy from the night before. She cried so hard and for so long, finally falling asleep only two hours before waking up again. She had no desire or need to get out of bed yet.
Two hours later, Hermione heard Harry stir in the room next door and she decided that she too should get up. She went into the bathroom, careful to lock both doors so that Harry could not accidentally barge in again, and she turned on the shower. She stepped into the shower and let the scalding hot water pour over her. At some point, almost mechanically, she managed to wash herself and her hair, and turned off the shower, stepping out onto the bathmat. After drying herself with her towel, she dressed in the clothing she had picked out for the day, a pink shirt and a pair of blue jeans and then proceeded to step in front of the mirror, performing a drying charm on her hair.
"I'm a horrible person. I'm evil. I'm a murderer," Hermione muttered under her breath, looking at the reflection in the mirror, a reflection of someone who was no longer healthy; she was too thin and looked sickly.
She then went into the kitchen where she found a pot of coffee brewing on the counter, and Harry sitting at the kitchen table looking at old photographs of the trio. He didn't notice Hermione come in and she heard him talking to himself.
"I can't believe he's gone, I can't believe he's gone. I didn't even get to say goodbye to him." He was repeating this over and over with tears in his eyes. Hermione quickly and silently retreated into her room where she threw herself on her bed and began to cry again.
Around noon, there was a knock on her door, and Harry walked in.
He looked around her bedroom; it was dark and appeared almost as if no life ever passed through there, except for the figure curled up in a little ball on the bed.
"Our Hogwarts letters arrived; I thought we should open them together," Harry said, however no response came from Hermione.
"Hermione," Harry walked over to the window and opened the blinds allowing light to come into the room. He then walked over and sat down on the edge of Hermione's bed.
"Hermione, sit up. Our Hogwarts letters are here and I want to open them together."
Hermione finally acknowledged him and sat up. Opening her letter, a Head Girl badge fell out and with a resounding "oh," for the first time Harry saw a hint of happiness in her eyes.
Harry opened his letter as well, and a Head Boy badge fell out of his. "But I was never a prefect…… oh," Harry said and tried to change the subject quickly, but Hermione with tears in her eyes gave Harry a hug.
Harry looked down at his letter and realised the book list was about a mile long. At least that's what it looked like to him.
The Standard Book of Spells Book 7
The Art of Animangi
Transfiguration Tasks
Advanced Potion Making vol. 2
Daily Potion Use
Defensive Spells and When to Use Them
Defending Yourself and Others
The Power of Healing
The World of Wizardry
He couldn't believe how many books there were! Hermione's list only included one more: Looking Deep into the Study of Arithmancy
"Come on Harry, we better go down to Flourish and Blotts to get our books and get anything else we need while we're down there. We leave on the train tomorrow, so we need to get this done." Hermione then stood up and walked out of her bedroom just a little bit happier than she was before Harry went in.
Stepping out into Diagon Alley, Harry and Hermione went directly to Flourish and Blotts where they began to collect their books. It was a zoo in there; just like every other year making it almost impossible to move. The only difference this year was that they would not be running into their school friends, as they had all graduated. Ginny would be the only close friend they had left at school.
"Harry! Hermione!" They both turned around and saw Mrs. Weasley standing in the middle of the store, carrying several books for Ginny.
"How are you dears?" Mrs. Weasley sniffed.
"Alright, I guess," Hermione responded.
"I know, it's been hard on all of us," Mrs. Weasley said sympathetically.
"Tonight is the last night of your holiday, you must come over for dinner," Mrs. Weasley continued.
Hermione looked at Harry with a look of utter terror on her face. There was no way she could go to the Burrow now, there were too many memories of Ron.
Harry always understood her, so when she said, "Thank you Mrs. Weasley, I think we will," she could not believe what was going on.
Hermione then began thinking carefully and realised that she had had the chance to say goodbye to Ron, not only at the Hospital but at his funeral as well. Harry had not had that chance, which is why Hermione reluctantly agreed to go in the end.
After their shopping was done, the two went back to Hermione's the flat to gather all of their school things, promising Mrs. Weasley they would floo to the Burrow around four that afternoon.
Hermione insisted she and Harry pack everything now because she assumed that they would probably be at the Burrow until late in the evening, leaving them no time to pack later.
After making sure she had everything, she began to clean the flat so that it could be sealed until the end of the year when she would move back into it. Harry came out to join her and they were soon cleaning up a storm even though the flat had not been that messy to begin with.
By the time four rolled around, both Harry and Hermione were exhausted but quite satisfied with the job they had done on the flat. Stepping over to the fireplace, they each took a small handful of floo powder and disappeared amidst the flames to the Burrow.
Stepping out into the Burrow was emotional for Harry; he had only seen Mrs. Weasley since he had woken, but had not spoken to any of the other members of the family. It was rather overwhelming for him, and when he looked to his right it appeared that it was a bit overwhelming for Hermione too.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY," he heard several people shout and in an instant, Ginny, Fred, and George surrounded him.
"But my birthday was almost a month ago," Harry replied.
"Yes, but you were still asleep then so we're celebrating it now!" Ginny smiled at him.
"Kids, DINNERS READY!" Mrs. Weasley shouted from the kitchen.
Sitting down at the table, Harry and Hermione were welcomed by a meal of gigantic proportions.
"Fred, George, how's the shop going?" Harry asked
"Great. Business is booming," Fred replied.
Harry noticed that every time he looked over towards Ginny, she would blush and smile at him, like the way she used to at Hogwarts. He found this kind of uncomfortable, and in the group setting it made this entirely worse. He just wasn't used to big groups again yet.
After dinner ended, Harry excused himself for a few minutes to get away from the crowd. He just wasn't used to that many people just yet. Stepping outside, he began to wander through the yard, and eventually in the distance, he saw the gravestone he knew belonged to Ron.
As he approached it, he stood staring in silence for a few minutes when he felt a presence next to him.
"I missed you," Ginny said.
Harry nodded in acknowledgement but did not say anything in return.
"I was kind of… I mean I was sort of… oh Harry, I was hoping that we could get back together now that you defeated You-Know-Who," Ginny stammered.
"Ginny. I… I…" but before he could say anything, Ginny kissed him quite forcefully and it took several seconds before he came to his senses and pushed her away, breaking the kiss.
"Ginny, I don't want to get back together with you, I'm sorry. I enjoyed our relationship while it lasted, but we ended that over a year ago now. A lot has happened since then; I've grown up a lot. I really did think what we had was love, but I now realise that's not what it was. Ginny, I think of you more like a sister, I'm really sorry, I hope we can still be friends," Harry said.
Ginny's eyes welled up with tears and she nodded before running away from him. Harry then took his wand out and conjured a rose to place on Ron's grave before turning around and leaving.
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