Enduring Hardship

Enduring Hardship

The icy wind blew across her face, slapping her awake. Shivering with the cold, she stood up from her bed, rapping her blankets around her, looking over at Harry and Ron, who were both still sleeping. The sun was beginning to rise, splashing a beautiful ray of colour across the morning sky. Hermione gazed up at it, sighing quietly to herself.

"Oh Harry," she spoke softly to herself, "look at all you've been through. All of that cruelty you've endured. Having to watch Dumbledore die must have been the hardest thing to ever witness. He was the only one Voldemort was afraid of, the only barrier protecting you from Voldemort. Ron. Ron, you have always been such a good, loyal friend to Harry and I, throughout all of these years of knowing each other. I have no idea what I would do without you."

A small tear trickled down Hermione's pale cheek. The thought of losing either one of them was too unbearable to even thing about. She hoped they knew just how much she loved them.

The search to find the Horcruxes was proving to be a dark and difficult task for the trio, although they had already managed to track down and destroy Hufflepuff's cup and the locket, which had not been an easy ride. Now, they were working desperately hard to find the whereabouts of the two remaining Horcruxes, assuming of course that Dumbledore was correct, and Voldemort had altogether created six Horcruxes, and no more.

A year or so had gone by, so much had happened, but so much was yet to come. The past year had not been an easy journey for Hermione, Ron and Harry. It hadn't just been the cold weather that kept Hermione from sleeping, many nights she lay awake, too scared and worried for the coming events, and the safety of her two best friends, the two people she loved the most in the world, Ron and Harry. Her strong friendship with Harry, and the love she felt for Ron were the two things that had kept her going all this time.

Thinking back to her earlier years at Hogwarts, she smiled sadly, as she remembered her old bossy self, a part of her she had lost since Dumbledore had passed away. She remembered how carefree their lives used to be - a time when the only anxieties and worries were passing exams and asking your crush to go to Hogsmead with you - and she longed to feel like that again. Whether it be in a month, or in ten, they, and the rest of the Wizarding World would live in freedom, they had to. She needed to believe that, because by constantly telling herself, and Harry and Ron, it reminded them that they had a future to fight for, a whole other life just waiting there for them to live, and it gave them an even stronger will to defeat Voldemort.

Hermione, continuing to stare intently at the moving clouds in the sky, thought about her life back then. She had never appreciated the carefree life she had, until she had lost it. She took it for granted while it was there, when she could have been savouring the years she had. Her younger self had not known what she had was anything amazing, because she had not experienced any less.

They had been through so much together, and had accomplished more in the last year, than many wizards twice their age had done in their entire lives.

We have come all this way; there is no reason why we can't succeed the rest. We shall all come out the other end. We shall. Hermione thought firmly, a little part of her old self, creeping back into her.

Tearing her eyes away from the luminous sky, she noticed some small, new, flowering snowdrops beginning to bloom in the earth. She eyed them, a small smile forming on her face. Looking at these elegant flowers, she knew, without really knowing how she knew it, that the end was near, and the war against Voldemort was nearly over. Although she knew of course, that there was hard work still to be done, and a lot of danger yet to face, she also knew it was al be over soon. She realised that enduring the hardship of destroying Voldemort would help, not only her courage, but also her strength, in herself, and in Harry and Ron. She knew that the love that encircled Ron, Harry and herself would only grow stronger throughout all of the troubles they would go through, in the near future, and from then on, together, and apart.