The weather was weird today.
The sun was shining too brightly for her own liking. It was neither too cold nor warm, yet, it still felt weird. The birds were awfully happy; chirping merrily while they greeted their other bird friends perched on tree branches. The flowers seemed to be in their fullest bloom, showing off their beauty to attract bees and spread their pollen.
Everything seemed alive and happy.
'Weird,' thought Hermione Granger, adjusting the scarf over her head to conceal her face. 'I actually thought the sky would be mourning on the day of my funeral.'
Sighing, she looked around to make sure no one was around before continuing her small journey.
Today... today, the whole Wizarding World mourned for the death of Hermione Granger, the Heroine and Brain of the Golden Trio. Her death had brought a huge impact to all those who hoped for freedom. Knowing that one of their heroes met her untimely death dampened their hopes of being freed from the vilest wizard ever known.
And so, her funeral happened on Hogwarts itself. Hermione had done so many things to Hogwarts... forHogwarts. Therefore, her friends decided it would be best if she was buried in Hogwarts, too.
A while ago, her funeral took place near the Hogwarts' Great Lake. People all over the world, both who knew her personally and who knew her through newspapers and such, went to her funeral to pay their respects. Nobody was seen with dry eyes after Harry Potter and Ron Weasley delivered their tear-jerking eulogies for their beloved best friend.
'Ron,' she wistfully thought. He had been a very good friend to her despite their past misunderstandings. She softly smiled upon remembering the entertainment they brought to their spectators every time they shouted at the top of their lungs. Ron had temper problems and she was the less prideful of the two, and so, she was the first person to settle the argument (although, most of the time, Ron was at fault). They would then revert back to their old chummy-chummy self.
And then, there were the Weasleys. They came to her funeral and all nine of them had tears in their eyes, even Percy who was not really close to the deceased brunette. Mrs. Weasley was the distressed of all for she had lost one of her beloved daughters.
And Harry... thinking about him made Hermione laugh. Based on what he had shown awhile ago, Hermione concluded he was a very good actor. Even he had tears in his eyes as he delivered his eulogy, every once in a while shooting furtive looks at a distant yet visible maple tree. If anyone would have been sober enough and looked at the maple tree, there would be a possibility of seeing a pensive brunette hiding her curly brown tresses with a black scarf.
As Hermione continued her walk, she was sure that if someone would have seen her now, they would be running away in surprise and fright, thinking that they had seen the ghost of the girl who had been buried just now.
Gently smiling, Hermione removed the black scarf over her head. Instead, she settled it around her shoulders.
'Almost there,' she thought absentmindedly, avoiding low-hanging branches and protruding roots in the Forbidden Forest.
Many might be wondering why Hermione Granger was walking freely in the woods, alive and perfectly healthy. And only a few, specifically four people, would be able to answer correctly.
"Here," was her soft remark as she stopped and sighed at the sight of her tombstone.
Hermione Granger
(September 19, 1980 - August 5, 1997)
A true heroine of the Wizarding World.
Missed and will never be forgotten.
Gingerly, she sat down on the mossy ground and stared at her epitaph. She was sure Ginny was the one who made that simple, yet truthful epitaph. According to Harry, Ginny was quite adamant to be the one to make the engraving on her epitaph and he had no choice but to let her.
'Oh, Ginny,' she thought. 'I'm going to miss you so much.'
Ginny always had a special place in Hermione's heart. Having two male best friends exhausted her. After all, she was still a girl. And having Ginny by her side was a great relief. Times when both Harry and Ron boggled her to no end were times when she sought for her girl best friend. And then, both would just fall into 'sissy land', as what Ron would call their bonding moments.
"Hermione?"
The sudden voice surprised her greatly and the first thing that came into her mind was to hide. She hastily wrapped the black scarf over her head once again and was ready to make a mad dash away from the sudden intruder when she heard a familiar chuckle.
Harry.
"Oh, Harry, really," was her welcoming greeting as she turned around to behold the sight of a smiling Harry Potter. "You scared me to death. Ever heard of the sentence 'be subtle'?"
"I'm sorry." Harry stooped down to remove the scarf covering his best friend's head. He then held her hand to pull her up and was soon thanked by the brunette with a small kiss on his cheek.
The-Boy-Who-Lived then surveyed Hermione from head-to-toe, a pensive look visible on his handsome face. "Are you all right?" he asked, a tinge of worry heard in the tone of his voice. She looked too weary and tired for his own liking.
"Well," she started, "what would you feel if you faked your own death and you just watched from afar as you broke the hearts of your loved ones?"
Hermione desperately tried to look strong in front of Harry but she couldn't help but spat a sarcastic reply to his question. After all, she had a long day and all she wanted to do was to crawl back to bed and 'weep a small weep'.
"I hate to say this but I told you this was a bad idea," Harry said, resuming his position as Hermione's 'older' brother. "Dumbledore's suggestion of taking you into hiding was the best idea, Hermione. Roaming around Hogwarts would be very dangerous for you, especially now that Voldemort and his Death Eaters are unusually stronger now."
The brunette released a soft sigh. "Harry, I've made a decision and nothing can change it now. I have to do this, please understand. I just cannot hide and be protected. I need to do something, Harry. I need to do something to save them from him."
