Magic Never Dies (Harmione)

Chapter 19

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Time dragged without them. Hermione sat just inside the mouth of the cave, unconsciously choosing the same spot that Harry had earlier that morning. She immersed herself in the book, and was able to pay attention for whole words at a time.

Whole words.

Hermione Granger, bookworm. She'd been wise enough almost seven years ago to tell him, "Books! And Cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery - oh Harry - be careful!" Clever as that at twelve, why then had she wasted so much time? And how could she have forgotten the most important thing? If she loved him - and she knew she did, hopelessly now - how was she ever going to let go enough to let him do what he needed? She knew she shouldn't have bargained with him, knew that he thought he was being restrained and cautious for her sake. But she'd only just got the feel of him; enough to realize that the hold he had on her heart ran deeper than she could have imagined. The thought of life without him had been incomprehensible at the start of this but she understood it well enough now. It was... unbearable.

She gave up her attempt at making sense of the words in front of her and rested her head in her hands.

Luna came and sat beside her, humming.

Hermione had never really warmed up to Luna. She knew Harry liked her, was aware that there was far more to her than met the eye after the Department of Mysteries, but really. They were so very different; Hermione grounded and practical and sensible, Luna with her nose in the Quibbler and her head in the clouds.

"Harry has the biggest heart, doesn't he?" Luna said dreamily, making a pattern in pebbles between them. "I wonder if it's because he's had to feel so much so young."

Then again, maybe Luna was just really perceptive and misunderstood.

Hermione felt the proper girl thing to do would be to respond with something like, "Ron certainly seems to fancy you," or "Ron really is brave, isn't he?" Luna, however, hardly seemed the type to observe social proprieties and Hermione didn't think she was talking about Harry's heart in an attempt to make Hermione reveal something else more personal about him the way Lavender might have.

"I think you're right. He does, and that's exactly why," she said slowly. It felt strangely good to say aloud. She and Ron had always talked about Harry, but never the way she needed to now. "I shouldn't have done that. Forced him take Ron, I mean. I just keep feeling like things are happening so fast now that the tiniest mistake could change everything. There's so much we still need to figure out and there isn't enough time to do it, and I'm afraid he's going to get reckless and...

"Maybe he needs to get reckless," Luna said. "He doesn't have much else to fall back on, does he? Without Dumbledore actually around, I mean."

Hermione recognized the uncomfortable truth in that; she knew Harry felt the same.

"He'd be just as dead if he was careful for you, you know. Even if he lived. His whole life has been leading to this; he needs to believe he gave it everything. He wouldn't be Harry after otherwise. You'd still have him to hold on to, but everything that makes him what he is would die." Luna continued.

Hermione's eyes widened. It was still Luna speaking, but not. Her voice, yes, but those were not her own words, Hermione was sure of it. Her eyes were unfocused, her body perfectly still. Her hands had ceased playing with the pebbles, their pattern complete. Hermione saw they spelled out a word, a name.