Four Words

Harry stood still against the blustering winds. He had a bunch of daisies, her favourite flower, in his clenched fist. He was staring two metres in front of him at the cold block of stone and had been for the past hour.

It had been two years ago and he still hadn't cried. At the funeral, Ron and Ginny had sobbed so hard but he had just remained silent. And it was in this silence that he could reflect. Reflect on the past they had shared together and on the future they were meant to.

It meant nothing that Voldemort was dead. It was just a passing event that had followed her death. None of it meant anything. She was gone, never to return and that was all that he thought about.

It was 19 September, her twenty first birthday. He had bought her a gift, a beautiful necklace, he hadn't the heart to bring it. Instead he placed the flowers on the ground and removed the ones he had put down three days ago. They were still beautiful.

Since her death he hadn't said a word to her. He hadn't prayed to her or even said that he missed her. It made it all too real. Ron had moved on, like everyone else. He had a nice home and was in a steady relationship. Harry didn't even know the name of Ron's fiancee. It could be Hazel, or Hayley. He knew it began with an 'H'. Like her name.

Before he fell asleep everynight her last words ran through his head. She had clung onto him tightly and whispered in his ear. 'You can do it Harry. You can win. Sorry I won't be there. Tell Ron I'll miss him. I love you.'

And he had let her slip from his grasp. Her lifeless body was lain on the ground. Harry was glad it wasn't Avada Kedavra that did it. He was also glad there had been no blood-shed. She looked perfect as she lay there, her eyes closed, like a child in a deep slumber.

He was also glad it wasn't poison. All those toxins didn't belong inside such a beautiful girl. Harry also wished it hadn't happened like it did. In hindsight, it was probably the worst death imaginable. She had stood there, defiant, between Harry and Lord Voldemort. On asking her to move, she refused, on shooting the killing curse at her, she blocked, Harry still didn't know how. She then stopped trying and just said 'Take my life. Here..." She handed him a charmed sheet of paper upon which were written the words 'Hermione Granger's life'. Harry knew she'd been working on things to help him defeat the Dark Lord but he'd never known how she'd come up with this, so simple, so deadly. Voldemort took it from her, crumpling it in his ghostly hand and within moments she had collapsed.

Harry then remembered Dumbledore's words. 'She gave her life to save yours. Just like your mother.' That had been Voldemort's downfall. He struggled to get through Harry's mother's protection but once Hermione's life slipped away, the barrier doubled.

Harry fell to his knees and rested his head on her gravestone. He was overcome with all the emotion he should have felt since her death. He cried. No tears fell from his eyes. He gulped in air between the raspy, dry, gasping sobs. He clutched the edge of the stone with his long fingers and hunched himself over, hugging it tight.

He then spoke. Not much. But enough. Four words he had wanted to say every moment of her life and then her death. The first tear slid off the end of his nose.

"I love you too."