...But Letting Go is Harder

Letting Go is Harder

Hermione stood at the center of the cemetery in front of two gravestones reading Harry J. Potter and Ronald A. Weasley; in her right hand she held a red rose and a pink rose to place on the stones. It had been two years since the death of her two best friends, but she could still remember the fight so vividly in her mind.

"Shh..." Harry whispered. "We want to surprise him - take him off guard. That way he'll be too stunned to retaliate." Hermione and Ron nodded, ignoring the blood curdling screams from Death Eaters and other members of the Order. "Now, I'll attack first, you stay here."

"Harry..." Hermione pleaded as she looked up at him with worried eyes. "Be careful, please." Harry smiled and cupped her chin.

"I can't guarantee anything," he said. "But I'll try."

"Harry..."

"Hermione," he said strictly then, cutting off her next statement. "People die in war, you have to understand that. I'm not saying that you can't be upset, I'm saying it's something that you'll have to deal with in the future. I'm not going to lie to you - I may not come back. But I'll always be here with you no matter what. I love you, Hermione." Hermione's heart leapt, but before she could reply, the three heard a snake-like voice coming from behind them.

Hermione tensed as she felt a hand touch her shoulder. "You all right?" the voice of the hand's owner asked. Hermione turned around to face Draco Malfoy. At the beginning of the war, Draco had been drafted to the order, agreeing to become a spy and become a Death Eater to gain Voldemort's trust. In the time that they weren't in battle, the trio had become good friends with Draco Malfoy. Harry trusted him with his life, convincing others that Draco was different from his father, though there were still a few who held grudges.

Hermione smiled weakly at him. "Yes..." she said, though Draco wasn't convinced.

"Do you want me to leave?" he asked.

"No, no," Hermione stopped him from turning around. "Would you stay here? Sit with me?" Draco smiled and nodded. Hermione sat down on the bench she had put beside Harry and Ron's graves and Draco sat next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"How sweet," Voldemort said, smirking. "I might just be sick." Hermione froze in fear but Harry's determined expression remained unaltered.

"Voldemort," he and Ron whispered. Ron moved to lift his wand but one of Voldemort's henchmen shot it out of his hand with the simple flick of a wrist. Lucius Malfoy. Ron scowled as Wormtail pinned his arms behind his back and Bellatrix Bullstrode did the same to Hermione.

"Well?" Voldemort asked, looking at Harry expectantly. "Why are you just kneeling there? Rumor has it that you've waited a long time to kill me. So do it."

Harry shook his head. "Not like this. Not with your permission. I want to make you wish you were dead... and then I want to grant your wish." Voldemort smirked.

"Isn't that noble. Well then, let's get on with it." And at that moment he bellowed "Imperium!" as Harry yelled "Crucius!"

Hermione let out a small gasp as Ron growled, trying to free his arms.

Hermione sighed and Draco hugged her. "I know, love. I miss him, too." Hermione buried her head in Draco's shoulder and breathed in his cologne - the same that Harry use to wear. Well, how he smelled anyway. Harry wasn't one to wear cologne. He naturally smelled good. Draco would tease him about it all the time, but after the final battle Draco began to wear cologne smelling exactly as Harry had. Hermione didn't say anything, though. She knew it was his way of coping.

Ron finally broke free and turned to hit Wormtail - he succeeded, shattering Wormtails nose. Hermione shrieked again as Bellatrix tried to hit Ron with Avada Kadavera, but Ron dodged it and dove on the ground for his wand. He stood up just as Voldemort and Harry screamed at the same time "Avada Kadavera!" Ron turned around to see a red light and a green light merge together, both trying to over power the other. He smiled brilliantly as he saw Harry's light soon begin to overwhelm Voldemorts but the smile faded as he saw Lucius aim his wand at Harry.

"Harry! Look out!" But Ron couldn't be heard. Seeing nothing more that he could possibly do within the split second that Lucius had cast the Avada Kadavera, Ron jumped out in front of the hex and fell to the ground, immediately lifeless. Hermione let out a scream as tears poured down her face and Bellatrix released the hold that she had held on Hermione, obviously in shock that anyone would care so much for a single person that they would give up their own life. Hermione took the opportunity to run over to Ron's limp body. When she reached it, she collapsed, crying uncontrollably. She looked up, however, with pure hatred in her eyes as she noticed Lucius laughing at her.

"Pathetic little girl. Did I hurt your boyfriend? Well, it looks to me as if you're going to lose the other too." Lucius cackled and Hermione stood up and brought out her wand, but before she could do anything she heard another shriek of "Avada Kadavera!" She watched in amazement as Lucius' body went limp and fell to the ground. Where the blonde man had once stood, Draco Malfoy now did, his wand drawn out and his rage running so deep that Hermione could feel it emitting from him.

Hermione glanced further into the cemetery at Lucius' headstone. Everything inside her wanted to dig him up, burn him, and then destroy the stone. But she wouldn't, only because he was Draco's dad. As much as Draco hated his father, he would never forgive her if she ever did such a thing to Lucius' grave. But, God, how she loathed him... even in death.

Everything went quiet. The rest of the Death Eaters and Order members were now watching the battle between Harry and Voldemort. Harry had been winning, but they had both grown rather tired and so tried again. "Avada Kadavera!" they yelled and the fight prolonged. Hermione looked on in awe as Ron had done, watching the lights merge together and then smiled as she saw that Harry was beating the Dark Lord. No sooner had she been certain that Harry was going to win that Voldemort yelled out one last time "Avada Kadavera!" creating an amazing explosion that only seemed to expand to the outskirts of the duo's bodies. Hermione watched in horror as Harry's body was engulfed in the light of the explosion.

"We should go, soon," Draco told Hermione as he looked up, noticing how dark it was becoming. Hermione nodded but continued to rest her head on his shoulder and think about Harry. "Hermione?"

"I know, Draco... Just a few more moments." Draco smiled and nodded, wrapping his arms tighter around Hermione.

"Harry!" Hermione screamed as she ran towards Harry's mangled body. "Oh, God! Harry!" She fell to her knees and cradled the top half of Harry's body in her arms. "Harry." She put her ear to Harry's chest... no heartbeat. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she realized that her love was dead. "Harry..." She laid her head against his and cried as she continued to cradle his limp body. Draco watched as Arthur Weasley sorrowfully levitated his son on a stretcher and the remaining members of the Order apparated the Death Eaters to Azkaban and removed Lord Voldemort's dead body. The blast had killed him, too. After everyone had gone, Draco went up to Hermione and laid his hands on her shoulders, silently weeping with her.

After Harry's death, Hermione and Draco had become very close friends; Hermione loved Draco more than she could say, but still not as she had loved Harry. As much as she tried to let Harry go, she found that she couldn't. Which was why she had gone to the cemetery to begin with. She and Draco stood up and as he began to apparate the two of them back to the flat that they shared, Hermione stopped him.

"I'm going to stay here for just a few more minutes. Go on without me."

"Are you sure?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Hermione nodded.

"There's something I need to do." Draco smiled, nodded, and in the flick of his wand he was gone.

After a moment of making sure that she was alone, Hermione looked at the grave with Harry's name engraved into the stone. "Harry James Potter." She continued to look at the stone as she traced her fingers across the name. She gently laid the red rose on his stone and then placed the pink one on Ron's. "I love you, Harry." She smiled at Ron's grave and turned to walk out of the cemetery.

On the desk sat a picture. It was the picture Harry had given Hermione when they had graduated seventh year. An eleven-year-old Harry stood smiling in the center of the group, his bright green eyes sparkling in the sunlight. On his right stood Ron with his arm on Harry's shoulder, looking the happiest he ever had in his entire lifetime with his two best friends by his side. On the left, stood a bushy-haired Hermione, holding on to Harry as if she would never let go. At the bottom of the frame a single red rose, though dead, had been sealed under the glass with the picture.