Mourning Dawn (A Prelude to The Wand of Elder)

The trio walked in silence for several minutes, making their way across rubble, shattered glass, and blasted suits of armor. They did not speak, as their tired minds attempted to cope with the enormity of the previous night's events.

Harry noticed that Ron and Hermione's fingers remained interlaced tightly as they moved through the corridors. He doubted that the two of them would let go anytime soon...if ever. Harry had a sudden and powerful urge to hold Ginny, but he knew that she had more important duties to her family just then.

Eventually the three friends came to a set of steps at the end of a long corridor. To the left and up the steps would take them to Gryffindor tower. To the right and down was the Great Hall. They could distantly hear the sounds of commiseration and celebration, which were still in full swing.

"Well, I better get back to Mum and Dad," said Ron shakily. "They...uh...right now they..." he trailed off. Ron's face was screwed up strangely. Hermione was suddenly not holding his hand, but hugging him fiercely around the middle, as if she could squeeze the loss of his brother out of him. She blinked rapidly as he gave her a watery smile. He encircled her shoulders with one arm as he looked back at Harry. "Well, you know," he finished.

"I know, Mate," said Harry softly. He felt the lump in his own throat as Fred's laughing face swam in his vision. It was a laugh Harry knew would never be heard again. He pushed the image away with a shudder; he was not ready to deal with that yet. "Hug them all for me...please. Tell them I'm sorry, but I just need...I just need to sleep...for a year."

Ron attempted a cocky grin with little success. "Well, you had a big night, didn't you? You died, had a chat with Dumbledore, came back to life, and vanquished the most powerful dark Wizard of all time. Probably should get a kip after that."

Harry grinned back, "Well yeah. That makes me sound a lot cooler than I was, though, doesn't it?"

Ron's smile solidified, and it was sincere this time. "That stuff always sounds cooler than it was, Mate. I've been trying to tell you that."

Hermione looked at the two of them, becoming aware that this was an inside joke to which she was not privy. "What on earth are you two talking about?"

"I'll tell you later," said Ron. "Someday soon." Hermione sniffed, but did not pull away.

She then turned her gaze on Harry. There was a very earnest expression on her face.

"Harry," said Hermione, "I wanted to tell you something, and I am not sure this is the proper time, but I don't know when it will be." She looked very uncomfortable, but sighed and decided to go on. "When we thought ....when Hagrid carried you into... and you looked dead..." She broke off, unable to finish, tears filling her eyes.

Ron's amusement was gone too, replaced by an extremely brotherly expression. "Yeah, Mate. It was...it was like...when I saw Fred..."

Harry did not quite know how it happened. Within a moment the three of them stood in a triangular hug. He felt Hermione's arm around him on one side, and Ron's on the other. Both of them were crushing the wind out of him, and he was giving his best effort to do the same to them. The three of them clung to each other for several minutes, the silence broken only by Hermione's sniffles.

"You did it, Harry," said Hermione, her voice muffled by the robes of the taller boys. "I don't know how, but you did."

"We did it," Harry contradicted her. He heard the choked sound of his voice. "If you two had not been there...If I had lost either of you..." he could not finish. The thought of a world without Ron and Hermione was simply not to be thought!

"Bloody hell! You...we... we did do it, didn't we?" mumbled Ron gruffly. "Bloody effin' hell!"

The three laughed at Ron's epithets from the middle of their three-way embrace, but they held on to each other fiercely. Harry did not want to ever let these two go. Ron and Hermione were the first real friends he had ever made. Somehow in his first attempt, he had managed to find the two truest, bravest and most wonderful people that could ever be called his friends.

He loved them both so very very much.

Eventually, the three broke apart, all feeling sheepish. All were chuckling at their outburst, while Hermione hastily wiped tears from her cheeks with a corner of her robes. At length, they parted company, but before Ron and Hermione left, Ron suggested Hermione needed her rest too, and that she should go up with Harry to Gryffindor tower.

"I am staying with you," said Hermione, giving Ron her best don't-be-an-idiot look. She attached herself tightly around his waste again, and Ron visibly decided gallantry had its place, but not here or now. Hermione and Ron made their way awkwardly down the steps like a strange four-legged beetle.

"Ron," Harry called, a sudden concern shooting through him as he watched the couple walk away, "please tell Ginny that I'll explain..."

"Don't worry, Harry," interrupted Hermione soothingly, looking over her shoulder with a weary smile. "I think she'll be ready to hear it soon enough."

Ron whispered to Hermione, "Yeah, and snog his brains out...ooof!" Ron let out a rush of air as Hermione jabbed him in the ribs.

"What?! You think he heard that?" asked Ron indignantly.

Harry smiled as their voices trailed away around the corner at the bottom of the stairs. Then he turned, swaying with tiredness, and made his way towards his comfortable four-poster.