Inside Your Mind

in the end

In The End - Linkin Park

September 1st 1998

'Are you ready?' A quiet voice asked from the doorway of the train compartment.

There was no answer.

'Hermione?'

Still no answer.

'Mione!'

Hermione's head snapped up, the trance broken, and met the concerned eyes of Ginny Weasley.

'Sorry, Ginny.' Hermione mumbled as she stood up from her seat by the window. 'I just needed a minute.'

'What were you thinking so hard about?' Ginny asked as she stepped closer to the brunette.

'How are we back here like the past year didn't happen?' Hermione asked in a whisper.

She looked away from Ginny for a moment to hide the burning sensation that had erupted behind her eyes. They had spent months trying to find out what had happened to Harry and Ron that day but they had found nothing.

They had given themselves a job to do in finding Harry and Ron, sensing that the Ministry and the Order weren't putting their full effort into finding two of the Second Wizarding War's heroes, and nothing was going to distract them from the task at hand.

Hermione had taken them back out on the run in an attempt to follow any trace of the her missing best friends, hiding herself and Ginny away like she had been doing for months before the Battle, and they had missed the funerals that were held in June.

The girls couldn't admit that Harry and Ron were dead, it would hurt them both so much, so they didn't regret missing it.

'How can you hold a funeral for people that you know are alive?' Ginny had commented the night before it was set to take place.

Hermione didn't disagree with Ginny's statement at the time, partly because she hoped that they were right and her best friends were alive, but mostly to keep Ginny out of the depressed state that she so often crept into while they camped out in search for the smallest whisper of Harry or Ron's whereabouts.

Now, as they raced through the countryside on the Hogwarts Express, Hermione wished that she and Ginny had believed what everyone else did: Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were dead. Attending their funerals may have given them both peace of mind.

One month ago, on what would have been Harry's eighteenth birthday, Hermione and Ginny had been found by the Order and dragged back into the real world.

Ginny, not being classed as an 'adult' by wizard standards when they were found, got off with a metaphorical slap on the wrist and returned to her parents without so much as two words from Kingsley Shacklebolt.

Hermione, however, spent hours in his office getting the full force of his anger and disappointment.

'How could you do something so reckless?!' He had asked for the second time, his voice barely below a roar.

'We thought that we could find them.' Hermione had replied, looking down at her hands, trying her hardest not to burst into tears.

When Kingsley saw how upset she was getting he sat down behind his desk and took a deep breath.

'Hermione,' he had said in a much quieter voice. 'They're gone. I know it must be hard for you and Ginny to accept, but they wouldn't stay away for so long without so much as a word to us if they were still alive.'

The change in Kingsley's tone had made the tears spill down Hermione's cheeks - they were hot and wet with anger.

'How could you not explore every possibility?' She'd asked through gritted teeth. 'They could have been taken by anyone who was on Voldemort's side.'