Renewal

June 10, 2015

Ten years after Hogwarts

She was trapped. She could not move. All she could do was look ahead of her, which was all blurry. She watched as her hair stroked her face, like in water. Then she realized that she was in water. However, she did not feel the need to breathe.

"Oh well," she said to herself, even though only bubbles were emitting from her mouth. "At least I'm comfortable...." She sat there, in a daze, staring forward. She began to recognize the pool. The tile on the floor and the walls was the same texture that she had in her pool...then she realized that it was her pool. It was so peaceful. So placid. She forgot all of her worries and just sat there, feeling cool all over her body.

"Hermione..." a voice said coldly. Her head snapped to the left, where the noise was coming from. She did not see anything. She breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed.

"Hermione!" the voice said, more urgently now. She realized now that the voice was coming from above her, not to her left. She looked up and saw what horrified her the most - Voldemort. She sat there, rigid, as he smiled down at her. He drew out a sword. Oh no.... Hermione thought. He was going to kill her right then. He put the sword in the water and shoved it downward, in her direction. It was a very long sword, even though it did not really look long when he pulled it out of his pocket. The sword got longer and longer until it reached the top of her head. She looked up at it. He did not go any further. She was half expecting him to wait until their eyes met and then plunge it into her.... that's just how Voldemort worked. However, nothing happened. She just stared up at him. He nudged the sword, gesturing that she should grab onto it. She tried to move her arms, but they seemed so heavy. She eventually grabbed the sword so he could pull her up. She did not care that she was being pulled into Voldemort's clutches...she just did not want to be lonely anymore. It seemed like she had been in there for days.

Hermione sighed impatiently. It seemed to take forever to be pulled up. When she finally could see the surface, she started to smile. She was not going to be lonely anymore! But wait, what was she thinking? She was going into Voldemort's clutches! Hermione started to panic. She thought of the certain spells that she could do, but there were none that she could think of. Besides, she did not even know if she had her wand with her or not. She decided to relax, and enjoy her last few seconds as being a free woman. Of course, Voldemort would put her to work when he caught her. The surface was only inches away from her face. The tip of the sword was coming out of the water...but her hands did not follow. She had lost her grip. She swam to the surface again and tried to break the water with her head...but she could not. There was some sort of barrier that was between her and the other side of the water, where the air was. Suddenly she was not able to breathe. She could not get above water! She looked at Voldemort and was not surprised to see that he was laughing. Voldemort suddenly got his sword and shrunk it back to its normal size. He looked behind him and grabbed somebody on the shoulder. He thrust a man forward. It was Harry Potter. Hermione's eyes grew wide. Voldemort plunged the sword, which was now dagger size, into Harry's back. His eyes grew wide as he screamed. Hermione could see the tip of the sword beneath is chest bone. Harry slumped to the floor, dead.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed. Only bubbles emitted from her mouth.

However, as she thought more and more about the situation, she realized that Harry had been dead for ten years. Then she woke up.

~

Ron grumbled as Hermione snored throughout the night. He hated it when she did this. He turned over to look at her. She was so beautiful, with her hair over her face in delicate locks. She had changed her hair ever since they got married. It was more curly then bushy, and was a deeper, darker brown then before. It was also a lot longer. He brushed her hair in front of her face to try to make her wake up so she could stop snoring. It did not work.

"Hermione..." he whispered. Her head shot to the left, where he was. There, at least that got her attention. However, she did not wake up. She just relaxed a little bit. He got annoyed as the snoring continued. He sat up. He got right in front of her face and almost shouted,

"Hermione!" Her head shot to where he was. He was satisfied. She would wake up soon...he hoped. Hermione suddenly became rigid and frightened, as if she was having a bad dream.

"Oh no...." Ron mumbled. He remembered when Hermione used to have bad dreams like this. Ever since Harry died, she would wake up, shaking, and tell him of all these dreams about Voldemort killing him, herself, or Harry. He held out his arm and nudged her hand to take it. She immediately did. She was grabbing onto it very tightly. He was starting to hurt. He slowly undid her fingers to have her let go of his arm. He thought for a moment how to wake her. He had an idea. He got his pillow and then put it over her mouth. She began to struggle.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea...." he said aloud. He quickly got the pillow and put it back on his side of the bed, afraid that he might suffocate his precious Hermione. She breathed deeply, which relieved him. Her eyebrows suddenly shot up, and she got rigid again. He wondered what he could do. All he thought of was to watch.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she suddenly screamed. He almost shot out of his skin. She was gasping for air and sweating. She suddenly sat straight up and opened her eyes wide, shaking.

"No...." she whispered. She looked at Ron next to her. She collapsed onto his shoulder, sobbing. He tentatively hugged her, not knowing what she wanted him to do.

"What happened?" he asked her, cautiously. Sometimes she would tell him, but sometimes she would just shake her head and keep on crying,

"Voldemort..." Ron flinched at the name, but nodded,

"And what did..." Ron gulped, "Voldemort do?"

"He killed Harry with a sword...and I couldn't breathe...I was in our pool, and it was all quiet and I was so lonely.... and I couldn't breathe, then Voldemort got this sword and tried to pull me out of the water but there was this barrier and I couldn't breathe!" Her voice was slightly muffled because she was shouting into his pajama top.

"You were snoring," Ron said simply. "I put a pillow over your mouth to wake you up. I'm sorry."

"It was pretty scary in the pool..." she said, looking up. A slight smile crept over her face. "Thank you for trying to wake me up." She kissed Ron gently on the lips. "I think we both need to go to sleep." She glanced at the clock. "It's 3:30, for god's sake!" she laughed, "Was I really snoring that loud?"

"You are the queen of snorers in my book." He smiled and kissed her again, "Good night."

"Next time, shake me until I wake up and don't suffocate me." Hermione smiled and lay back down. Ron shook his head slightly. Hermione seemed so happy after a dream so frightening. He could not imagine how she could do it. If Ron had seen You-Know-Who stabbing Harry, he definitely would not have been cheerful for about a week.

Hermione's dream made Ron think about Harry. He had died in seventh year, fighting Voldemort. Ron would never forget the last thing Harry told him...

May 26, 2005

"Go! Go get Hermione! She's in the tower! I'll deal with Voldemort!" Harry screamed at Ron. Ron could see broken glass and the bodies of his classmates strewn everywhere. He saw a few dementors scanning the grounds for more survivors. There was a bonfire of all of the Hogwarts books a couple of hundred feet away, and one division of the school was on fire. He looked at Harry,

"Are you sure?" Ron inquired. Harry nodded and ran away from Ron, in search of Voldemort. Ron briefly looked at where Harry was running. He then ran the other way, jumping over dead bodies and escaping the death eaters easily by hiding in the shadows. He ran into Hogwarts, avoiding the flames, and went up to the moving staircases. Some were bewitched to not move at all, frozen in the middle of the hall. Many staircases also just kept moving and never stopped. There was a staircase frozen in the middle of the hall right in front of him. He needed to get onto the staircase and go up to Astronomy Tower. Why did Hermione need help in the highest tower of the whole school?

"Accio Firebolt!" he shouted. His Firebolt, which Harry had given to him for his birthday last summer, came zooming out of the Gryffindor common room and into his waiting hands. He quickly got onto it and zoomed up to the direction of the Astronomy Tower. When he got there, he left his broom on the ground and sprinted into the room that was the Astronomy Tower.

"Hermione!" he screamed, hoping that she was all right. It was essential that he find her. Yet, there was no answer. "Hermione!" he screamed again, more urgently. He saw a pack of Dementors crowding around a girl on the floor. The girl had bushy hair...it was Hermione. It looked like she had passed out. He ran forward, thought of how after Harry defeated Voldemort, there would be peace, and nobody would be in any harm, and bellowed,

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A silver buck came out of his wand and bucked all of the dementors out of the way. They all walked, or floated, away with their rattled breaths and lifeless hands. He dashed to Hermione, who was on the ground with one hand tightly clutched over her wand. He shook her desperately.

"Hermione!" There was no answer. He checked her pulse. It was there, but barely. He picked her up and ran out of the Tower, picked up his Firebolt, got on, and put Hermione on her back. He bewitched her into place so there was no way that she could slide off the edge of the broom. He flew to the Burrow. He did not even care if some stupid muggle saw him. He would die rather then give up trying to save Hermione. He flew down to the Burrow and led her in. Mrs. Weasley quickly tended to Hermione. (She had been a nurse before marrying Arthur.)

The next day, Hermione awakened with the aide of Mrs. Weasley and the smell of coffee.

"Hermione, my dear, are you all right?" Mrs. Weasley smiled warmly toward pale-faced Hermione. Hermione looked a bit dazed.

"Yes...I'll.... I'll be fine.... just...." Hermione suddenly remembered the day before and the massacre of Hogwarts. She remembered the Death Eaters closing in around her.... she saw Harry's face swimming in her mind, kissing her softly and telling her to wait for him in Astronomy Tower....

"How is Harry? Is he all right? I never got to see him again!" Hermione looked frantic. Mrs. Weasley handed her a mug of coffee.

"Shhh...dear, it's all right...I'm sure he's fine," Mrs. Weasley said warmly.

Ron entered the room in his pale blue pajamas. (Might I add, they ended about an inch above his ankles.) Hermione sat up quickly.

"Ron! Ron, have you heard from Harry? Is he all right?" Hermione's brown eyes shone with excitement.

"No, actually, I haven't heard from him yet. I do hope he's got back in one piece." He smiled. "Mum, has the post come yet?" Mrs. Weasley rolled her eyes.

"No. That new ruddy owl of ours, Blodeuwedd, hasn't gotten a post right since." She sighed. "I wish Errol were here. At least he got the letters to the right person..." she sighed, "If only that bloody neighbor of ours hadn't complained about him smashing into a window of hers, he'd still be here." She sighed again, and went off. Hermione was looking down at her mug of coffee, rather mournfully.

"Is anything wrong, Hermione?" Ron asked softly. Hermione started.

"Oh...sorry...I was just thinking...about...well, it's not really that important." Hermione's ears went pink.

"Tell me," Ron said quietly. Hermione sighed, defeated.

"I was just thinking about the last time I saw Harry...I was to meet him at the Astronomy Tower." Hermione looked up. Ron's look encouraged her to go on. "That's why I was up there...when...when you found me. He had just asked me...." Hermione suddenly blushed even redder and looked to the side.

"What? Tell me." Ron looked at her curiously. What had Harry asked her?

"He asked me...to be his girlfriend." Hermione closed her eyes, remembering. Ron looked crushed. He had had a secret crush on Hermione ever since 3^rd year.

"And...what did you say?" Ron said, hoping that he was not screaming.

"I told him that I would tell him that night...in Astronomy Tower. But he never showed up. Instead, the dementors did," Hermione said, still red in the face.

"What were you going to tell him?" Ron whispered as he leaned closer to Hermione.

"I was going to tell him...yes." Ron shut his eyes tightly to prevent himself from crying. Hermione noticed Ron's unusual behavior. Maybe he does like me after all...

"Ron, what's wrong?" Hermione asked, touching him lightly on the arm. Ron jerked at the touch.

"N- Nothing...I just...have a bad feeling...that's all..." Ron looked at the delicate fingers on his forearm. He longed to kiss them. Hermione took her hand off his forearm and put her fingers under his chin. She tilted his head so he was looking in her eyes.

"Look in my eyes," Hermione said soothingly. Ron obeyed.

"I liked you as much as I liked Harry. Even though Harry asked me to be his girlfriend first, it does not mean that he's better then you in any way. It may even mean that he's worse because he might destroy our friendship. But you..." She tilted his head upward, since his head was drooping down. "You will always be my friend, and I will always be yours. We will always be there for each other. Do not...please, I beg of you...please do not think I am not your friend just because I am dating somebody else. I will do the same for you." Hermione smiled warmly at him.

"Right." Ron smiled. Hermione smiled back. Suddenly, a post owl about the size of an apple came zooming in through the window. A bigger post owl followed it. The first owl laid down a letter by Ron. The second owl went up to Ron and nudged him with his beak.

"Blodeuwedd! Go away!" Blodeuwedd looked seriously offended. She flew off into the fresh morning, knocking down bushes as she passed. Hermione chuckled as Ron opened the letter.

"So that's Blodeuwedd, is it?" Hermione smiled and looked up at Ron. He was dead white. "Ron, what's wrong?" Hermione said frantically. He looked as if he were about to faint. He slowly looked up at her.

"It's a letter from Hagrid. He was in the Forbidden Forest last night...and he found Harry. He was dead. Harry's dead, Hermione." Ron looked her dead in the face. Hermione felt the color drain out of her face.

"What?" Hermione whispered.

"Harry's...dead." Ron choked on the last word.

"Dead? He can't be! He just can't be!" Hermione sprang from the table and ran outside. Dead. The word rang in Ron's ears. Harry was dead.

June 10, 2015

Ron thought about all of the details of that one, long night. He did not return to Hogwarts after he found out that Harry was dead. He had not been to the school since because of all the memories. It would torment him. He just wanted to be with Hermione in their house, with no problems, no worries. After all, Voldemort was dead...or so they thought.