It Didn't Seem Real

- It Didn't Seem Real -

By Kay Elle Hunter

It didn't seem real.

Hermione Granger stared blurrily at the white tomb encasing Dumbledore's limp and lifeless body. Tears were streaming waterfalls down her cheeks and an ache filled her throat due to the fact she was fighting to suppress a sob that threatened its release.

It just didn't seem real.

Albus Dumbledore was dead.

It didn't seem real at all.

Unable to suppress the sob for a moment longer, it finally let itself free and Hermione gave a great sniff as several more tears broke through the boundaries of her swollen eyes. She turned to look at one of her best friends, Ron Weasley, who sat silently beside her. His eyes were screwed half-shut in an attempt to hold back the tears that threatened to fall from them at any moment. He was watching her and Hermione saw that his face was full of understanding.

It didn't seem real.

Such emotion - Hermione had never seen it upon Ron's freckly features before. Oh, she had seen him jealous and angry and overwhelmingly caring at times but this form of emotion was new for her to see. Seeing Ron fighting to disguise the inner pain and the ache of loss that he was feeling caused a great deal of respect to rise within Hermione's chest, even if she ached for him to let his reaction free.

"Hermione," he croaked as a single tear escaped the bright blue depths of his left eye and made a slow path down the pale face and the scattering of freckles that were contrasted against it. "He's dead... How?"

Hermione moved her hand and took his within it, stroking it soothingly. She watched as Ron looked down at their clasped hands for a moment, as though the action caused him to momentarily forget the reason why they sat there, painfully upset and in complete confusion of the war that was corrupting their lives.

It didn't seem real.

Beside them, their close friends Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley were detained in a quiet conversation that had summoned not looks of deep emotion or overpowering despair to engulf their features but instead looks of intensity mixed with something else entirely. They seemed to hesitantly understand each other's words.

Although Hermione made comment of it to Ron, she had a distinct feeling that she understood what their friends, who had been a happy couple for the past few weeks, were currently discussing. The idea seemed clever, if not slightly selfish, but in all clarity it was saddening.

"It doesn't seem real," Hermione said quietly, drawing her eyes away from Harry and Ginny as a new wave of tears engulfed her senses and continued to run down her cheeks. She knew she must look a mess; her eyes would surely be bloodshot by now. "Dumbledore's go-gone! This war is wrecking havoc upon the b-best and most re-respected!"

She flung herself into Ron's arms without hesitation and began to cry horribly and forcefully into Ron's shoulder, soaking his robes with the salty liquid of her tears. A great rush of comfort possessed her as Ron's arms wound around her and drew her closer, his fingers making their way to stroke her bushy mass of hair.

They sat together in their embrace for only a few moments before Hermione felt the telltale sensation of liquid seeping through her hair and she realized that Ron had finally given in to the force of his despair and emitted his tears.

He was silent as though he were trying to avoid people noticing his state of emotion and the effect it had upon him. Hermione gave a small snort of laughter (being noted by Ron as another sob) as she identified the typical male behaviour of not allowing someone to notice you crying. Ron, however, merely pulled her closer and drenched the top of her hair with tears.

"It can't be real," he croaked, ceasing the stroking of her hair and pulling away from her slightly.

Hermione looked up at him through her bloodshot eyes, no longer as teary, and examined his features absently as he stared into them.

"How can he die?" Ron asked almost desperately which was so unlike him that it somewhat shocked Hermione to hear the tone of voice escaping him. "He's Dumbledore - he can't die!"

"He was a great wizard, Ron," Hermione replied, her voice slightly muffled after all of her crying. "But he wasn't immortal."

Hermione watched contently as another tear escaped Ron's eyes as they flicked towards the white tomb and then back to her.

"We've come to think that Dumbledore will always be there to help and support us but this is just a sign to show that we can never assume anything," Hermione said in a comforting voice. "As unreal as it feels for Dumbledore to be gone and unable to return, we have to accept it and learn that he might not be the only person we lose within this community."

"Harry -" Ron croaked, the image of his best friend lying dead on a table similar to Dumbledore's obviously surfacing in his mind. The colour that had resurfaced in Ron's face had drained away instantly.

"It might even be me or you, Ron," Hermione whispered darkly. "It could be anyone - or no-one at all. As I said, we can't assume anything. This war is far from over."

Ron watched her silently for a few moments. His eyes, their depths full of despair, showed shadows of content as he looked down at her, the fingers of his left hand absently running through the very ends of her hair. He brought his hand up to wipe away the few tears that had once again begun to fall down her already wet cheeks.

Hermione's eyes closed at the contact, his touch soothing her to the soul and entirely comforting her. She took a deep, slightly ragged breath that helped calm her in order for her to regain her own emotional control.

"Hermione," Ron said in a very different voice. It was a voice in which Hermione had heard him use only once or twice - the last time being in the greenhouses during their first term of the school year.

Opening her eyes, Hermione turned all her attention to the way he was looking at her with an expression mixed with admiration as well as minor hesitation. His hand was now placed gently on the side of her neck, and when he swallowed Hermione sensed that he did it almost in a way that hinted he were nervous.

Hermione's heart skipped a beat and she found a great deal of questions had suddenly floated into the depths of her brain and her body was alight with hope and expectation.

It didn't seem real.

"Hermione," Ron repeated, his voice slightly breathless now. His voice became barely a whisper as he made his next sentence. "Everything will turn out alright in the end."

And then he kissed her - softly and full of so much emotion that Hermione felt her breath catch and her heart begin to pound in her chest at the mere thought that he held it all for her. Every thought of the war and Dumbledore's death had momentarily flown from her mind and she responded to the feeling of Ron's lips against hers as though she had been expecting this kiss to occur a long time ago.

The kiss was only short but the feeling that had managed to fill her entire body in the outcome of it (and he was looking at her now) served for it to mean everything to her no matter how intense it was.

...The way he was looking at her... Merlin...

...It didn't seem real...

"Everything will turn out alright in the end," Hermione murmured, leaning her forehead against his. "We just need to stick together. Remember - we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided."

A flicker of emotion crossed Ron's eyes as he remembered the last time he had heard those words. The man who spoke them would never speak again.

"I'll protect you, Hermione," Ron stated very quietly after a minute of silence. He was looking deep into her brown eyes as he said it.

Hermione leaned into Ron's arms, feeling a great deal of comfort as she did so. "I would only ever let you be the one to do that, Ron," she whispered softly in his ear.

Her words caused a frown to surface on Ron's face and he motioned to look in her eyes but she merely looked away and stood up.

"We should find Harry," she declared as she looked around and made to walk towards the lake. A series of people were gathering in groups there. Many were crying and others mourning together, discussing the greatness of the late Albus Dumbledore. Ron grabbed her hand to stop her for a moment.

"I never liked Lavender, you know," he stated with a finality that suggested that they had just spent their time discussing his ex-girlfriend with great elaboration. "Only ever you."

Hermione watched him carefully for a moment. "I know," she said with a small smile and she walked away towards the banks of lake where they could see Harry. Ron followed after a moment's hesitation.

...None of it, whatever it was, whatever it contained: the war, the deaths, the emotion and the feelings - none of it seemed entirely real at that moment... No matter how real they all knew it was...

...It just didn't seem real...

The End

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