A New Beginning (Harry & Hermione from "Harry Potter")

You Need Us, Harry

After the funeral ceremony, Harry had gotten back to the Gryffindor common room. He thought about how he had no clue about how to destroy the Horcruxes. His mind was all over the place. He then took the locket out of his pocket and took a look at it. It was surprisingly easy to open. He found a note inside. It stated that the original locket was hidden somewhere else by the person who wrote the note and that this one was fake.

"What is that, Harry?"

It was Hermione. Harry was so furious that he just started yelling.

"It's the locket. It isn't the real Horcrux. Turns out, it's fake!"

"What are you-"

"Dumbledore died for nothing," Harry snapped. "Nothing." His anger slowly turned into sobbing. Harry really didn't want to pull his tears back, so he didn't.

Hermione didn't know what to do. As she saw tears dropping from Harry's eyes, she saw a pocket of napkin lying on the table at a distance and whispered, "Accio napkin." After the pocket flew towards her hand, she pulled out one and offered it to Harry. He took it and wiped his tears. She placed her hands on his shoulder. "I know it's really hard, Harry but I'm here for you."

Harry really appreciated what Hermione was trying to do but she would not understand how he felt at that moment. Nobody could. Everyone was dying because of him. The people he loved had started to die even before he knew himself. But he didn't need to burst out to Hermione, so he said, "I know, Hermione, thank you."

After a while, he looked around and realized that Ron was not with them.

"Where is Ron?" Harry asked. Hermione's facial expression changed. She seemed a bit uncomfortable.

"I don't know. We didn't really talk that much-"

She stopped talking. Harry understood what she meant. He knew seeing him with Lavender didn't really make her feel good.

"I didn't want to make you uncomfortable, sorry for that," Harry said. "How are you with him? Are you still angry? Or sad?"

"No," she answered quickly. "I mean, there is no problem, but I think it's better if I only see him as my friend."

Harry understood what she meant. He was thinking the same thing about Ginny.

"I will not return here next year, Hermione. I need to finish the job Dumbledore started. I need to find the Horcruxes."

"You don't think you are going to find the Horcruxes all by yourself, do you?" asked Hermione, raising her eyebrows.

"What are you guys talking about?"

Harry turned his head. Ron had entered the room.

"Harry says he is going to look for the Horcruxes all by himself," Hermione responded. She didn't really seem delighted.

"Are you serious, mate? You can't get it done all alone, that's mad! When will you get it to your head? We are in this together. " responded Ron.

"Guys, this is not an easy job, okay? This is dangerous. I don't want either of you to get hurt. I don't want any more people to die for me."

"If you leave us behind, that will hurt us more." Ron said.

"You need us, Harry," Hermione said.

Harry looked at her eyes. She was smiling. He reached out for her hand and nodded. He then turned to Ron. He knew that he needed his friends. He really needed them.

"You're right. We are in this together."