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Harry's Shorts: 2.0	By : Gandalfs-Beard Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 22119 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Harry Potter or any associated properties (that would Rowling and various companies), nor do I make any money from the production of this work

Chapter List
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AN: Angst/Drama/Friendship/Romance
A few lines of dialogue borrowed from Rowling.

I See Thestrals

She hadn’t been able to look at them anymore - the bodies of the fallen strewn amidst the rubble and being carried by the survivors to makeshift morgues in empty classrooms; Tonks and Lupin, Fred Weasley, and Colin Creevey among them. And she couldn’t help but think of those others lost along the way this past year: Dobby, Mad-Eye Moody, and even Hedwig, Harry’s owl, and before that, Dumbledore lying on the ground just below this very tower.
Hermione stood at the top of the Astronomy Tower peering out over the battlements, across the grounds of Hogwarts and the Black Lake to the mountains rearing up against the deepening blue of the late morning sky as the sun rose higher, hoping to see some sign of life - some sign that the future held more than death and suffering.
She didn’t hear the footsteps on cobblestone behind her until it was too late, and jerked away from the hand touching her shoulder as if burned.
“Oh!”
“Sorry!” Ron mumbled, casting his eyes down. “I didn’t mean to scare you like that.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked, sounding sharper than she had intended, instantly regretting the question.
“I mean - why aren’t you with your family?” said Hermione more gently. “They need you right now.”
“Your mother needs you right now,” she added, remembering Molly Weasley’s boggart at Number Twelve nearly two years prior.
Hermione reached out to take Ron’s hand - the one which had touched her shoulder - and this time it was he who pulled back. He nodded, his eyes still cast down, his cheeks glistening wetly.
“Yeah!” he said, his voice hoarse. “You’re right Hermione - Mum does need me now. I just... I thought... I hoped you’d need me too.”
Hermione bit her lip, not knowing what to say - feeling a piercing pain in her chest as something broke. Ron looked so forlorn, but for the moment she just wanted to be alone to grieve in peace.
And then Ron turned and was gone before Hermione could get any words out.
She turned back to look out across the balustrade once more as her tears began falling again, regretting the hurt in Ron’s features when just a short while ago they had been together with Harry in Dumbledore’s office feeling - not happy exactly, but glad that it was over, the battle won.
Harry!
He had looked so lost after repairing his wand. She had seen it in his sleep-deprived eyes as well - the need to be alone, away from everyone. Harry hadn’t even been to see Ginny - not since last night for a scant few minutes before the battle had broken out - the only time he had seen her in nearly a year.
Hermione’s tears fell faster, thinking about how Harry had just headed up to Gryffindor Tower instead of following Ron back downstairs to be with the Weasleys. She knew how guilty Harry felt for all the death. She had seen it in his eyes.
Hermione wiped away tears but they kept falling, and then she saw them - flying just above the Forbidden Forest - for the first time she saw Thestrals...
...and she knew just how Harry had felt. She felt awful all over again, as if it had just been yesterday...

~o0o~
“That foul, lying, twisted old gargoyle!” Hermione raged at Harry and Ron.
“You see what she’s up to? It’s her thing about Half-breeds all over again...” she continued to rant as the three of them waded through deep snowdrifts back up the hill towards the castle.
Harry and Ron remained silent until she began to run out of steam.
“...I mean, alright, if it had been Blast-Ended Skrewts again, but Thestrals are fine - in fact, for Hagrid, they’re really good.”
“Umbridge said they’re dangerous.”
That brought Hermione up short, shocked that Ron could bring himself to agree with anything that horrid toad had to say. She whirled around angrily to face him.
“Well it’s like Hagrid said,” she snapped, “they can look after themselves...”
Hermione softened her tone as a keen sense of disappointment came over her, washing away the anger. “...and I suppose a teacher like Grubbly-Plank wouldn’t usually show them to us before N.E.W.T. level, but, well, they are very interesting aren’t they? The way some people can see them and some can’t? I wish I could see them.”
“Do you?” asked a quiet voice.
Hermione whirled back around to see Harry’s sad green eyes, horrified at what she had just said.
“Oh Harry - I’m sorry...” she said, feeling horribly guilty, her eyes brimming with tears, “...no, of course I don’t - that was a really stupid thing to say...”
“It’s okay,” Harry said gently, “don’t worry...”

~o0o~
Bur she still felt guilty. Hermione could see Thestrals now, and she began to sob, wishing she couldn’t. She screwed her eyes shut so she couldn’t see them, feeling lightheaded. Her knees gave way and she collapsed, falling into gentle arms.
Hermione opened her eyes, almost expecting to see Ron again but knowing she wouldn’t.
“You see them now, don’t you?” said Harry quietly as he held onto her tightly. “Thestrals!”
Hermione nodded, burying her face in Harry’s chest, soaking his clean shirt with her tears and runny nose as she wrapped her own arms around him.
“I’m so sorry Harry!” Her voice sounded muffled, even to herself. “I should have never said that! I shouldn’t have...”
“Ssh,” he said, rocking her slowly, “it’s okay Hermione. That was years ago, and I knew exactly what you meant.”
And then they were silent, except for the sound of her muted sniffles as he held her against him. She felt him stroking her hair, kissing the top of her bushy head, and gradually began to calm down. Finally Hermione stopped crying and lifted her head, but still not wanting to let go of Harry.
She gave him a wan little smile. “Thanks Harry! I feel a bit better now.”
“No problem, Hermione! You know I’ll always be here for you, don’t you?”
Hermione nodded, but felt a bit puzzled. “Er... I thought you’d be sleeping to be honest.”
“Me too,” Harry sighed.
“I’m bloody knackered! But every time I tried to close my eyes...” He trailed off, looking a bit distant.
Hermione wasn’t sure what possessed her, but suddenly she kissed him on the lips. It was just a brief kiss - a chaste kiss even - but it brought Harry back to Earth. He gave her a slightly bewildered look.
In that moment, Hermione knew what she really wanted, but she wasn’t sure what Harry really wanted. There was really only one way to find out if there was even a possibility.
“Come with me,” she pleaded.
“Pardon?”
“To Australia - to help me bring back my parents. ... Come with me!”
“Er... you sure? I mean, of course I’ll come with you if that’s what you want, but what about Ron?”
“I...” Hermione really wasn’t sure what to say. All she knew right then was that this was the right thing to do - for her, and she hoped for Harry as well.
“To be honest, I can’t be around him right now,” she said, feeling awful even as she said it. “And I don’t really know why. I just know it doesn’t feel right - ”
Harry actually looked relieved.
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” he said, looking as if he felt a bit guilty too. “I can’t really be around Ginny either. It wouldn’t be right...”
Harry trailed off briefly again, but this time he didn’t look distant. He was gazing at her intently.
“This feels right,” he said softly after a moment passed. “I meant it when I said I’d always be around for you. ... I told Ron that you were like a sister to me, you know, when he came back during the horcrux hunt - but it’s loads more than that really - and it’s not really fair of me to expect Ginny to be okay with that.
“I care about her, I really do, but she deserves better than a guy who would drop everything else to be there for another girl at a moment’s notice. ... And it’s not like we’re really together right now.”
“Me neither,” said Hermione, feeling massively relieved herself, “I mean - Ron and I were never official - we never even dated or anything. It was just like... I don’t know - for a little while it just felt like there might be something between us. ... I know I snogged him last night, but to be honest, I probably would have snogged you too...”
Hermione flushed, not sure if she should say that she had been afraid they were all going to die and wanted to give both her boys a kiss just in case it was the last chance she’d ever have to kiss either of them.
“So just to be absolutely clear, it’s really okay then? For you and me to go to Australia together?” asked Harry when she said nothing more.
“Yes!” said Hermione in a small voice, knowing that Ron wouldn’t like it at all. That was just going to be something she would have to deal with.
Harry seemed to know it too. Hermione turned around in his arms, leaning back against him, and for a while they both watched the Thestrals flying above the tree-tops, letting the peacefulness of the moment wash over them before the world became complicated again.
Thestrals, they were more than just a sign of Death, Hermione realised in that moment, they were the sign of life she had been looking for...
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Harry's Shorts: 2.0