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Hermoine stood next to Ginny at her wedding, her maid of honor. But, the only one she had eyes for was Harry.
Tears began to seep down her cheeks as they said their wedding vows. By the time they said, “I do” she was all out crying. Of course, she wasn’t the only one crying. From Harry’s side, Ron also had tears streaming down his cheeks but she suspected they were of a different kind.
She never really thought about it until recently, with the war and the cleanup taking up all of her time until now. Even when Ron left, Harry was there for her. He always was. He was kind and loyal in all the ways that Ron wasn’t. After the war had ended, she had broken up with Ron. She had fallen out of love.
It was only recently that she realized who had really taken up all of her thoughts. Harry. Harry who had sacrificed himself for everyone. Harry who had always been there. Harry who had comforted her when she cried.
The rest of the wedding and the afterparty flew by in a daze. It didn’t quite seem real, especially when Harry announced their move.
He would be moving, along with Ginny, to Italy where the Potters had an ancestral home, to live a quiet life. Sure, she’d be able to visit, but it wasn’t the same. After the war had ended, Harry and Ron had moved in with her into Grimaud Place so they could work on reconstruction efforts together. After spending that year together in the woods and the trauma from the battle, none of them wanted to live alone.
She didn’t stay at the wedding until it was closed down, she couldn’t. She couldn’t bear to look Harry in the eye and tell him that she was happy for him. That she thought he was perfect for Ginny and they would have a happy life together.
From her perspective, their relationship never seemed the healthiest. Hermione honestly suspected love potions. Ginny, she couldn’t seem to take no for an answer even when Harry wasn’t interested in her.
Back at her hotel room, she broke down into sobs, ordering room service ice cream through her tears.
After she broke through her tears to get the ice cream from the room service lady, all she grabbed was a large spoon and went to sit on her patio.
As she ate her ice cream, she began to speak to herself. She just spoke to the open air, telling it everything that she wished she had the courage to tell Ginny. “I was fine with the women, who would come into his life now and again. I was fine 'cause I knew that they didn't really matter until you.”
She ate another spoonful of ice cream before starting again, almost singing to herself the hummed tune of another song bouncing around in the back of her head from the wedding, “ I was fine when you came. And we fought like it was all some silly game, over him, who he'd choose. After all those years, I never thought I'd lose. ”
She stared off into the distance, words echoing through her mind.
It's over, isn't it?
Isn't it?
Isn't it over?
It's over, isn't it?
Isn't it?
“ Isn't it over? ” she screamed to the heavens before calming down once more. “ You won, and he chose you. And he loved you and he's gone. It's over, isn't it? Why can't I move on? ”
She stared up at the stars, reminiscing on everything they had done together. Everything they wouldn’t do again, “ War and glory, reinvention, reconstruction, freedom, his attention. Out in daylight, my potential: Bold, precise, experimental. ”
She went back into her hotel room, the night air beginning to feel brisk against her skin, and changed into her nightclothes. The dress was more of a painful reminder that he was gone now and less of a fun party dress.
As she changed, she continued singing to herself, “ Who am I now in this world without him? Petty and dull, with the nerve to doubt him. What does it matter? It's already done. Now I've got to be there for his best friend .” She knew that Ron didn’t feel it yet, but he’d miss Harry as well.
She laid down in her bed, staring up at the ceiling. “ It's over, isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it over? ” she said before letting the words echo through her mind once more.
It's over, isn't it?
Isn't it?
Isn't it over?
Trying to resolve her feelings, her hands shook, her voice cracked, and thick ulgy tears ran down her cheeks, “ You won, and he chose you. And he loved you and he's gone… It's over, isn't it? Why can't I move on? ”
There was a certain amount of contentment that came with the last line as it took over her thoughts.
It's over, isn't it?
Why can't I move on?
She closed her eyes, tears still streaming but she was no longer shaking. She passed out, the tears still flowing.
It took years for her to finally admit to herself that she could never have Harry. Originally love potioned or not, Harry was nothing but a loyal husband. He loved his children dearly and she knew, even if he wasn’t happy with Ginny anymore, he wouldn’t leave his children or force them to be without one parent.
In the end, Herminone never did end up with anyone. She became Minister of Magic and made a positive change in the world before her death. Harry had later become a teacher at Hogwarts teaching D.A.D.A. with Neville by his side teaching Herbology.
And when she died, with Harry sitting at her side, she finally got to say, for the first and last time, “I love you” to Harry.
“I love you too, ‘Mione,” she didn’t live long enough to hear it, the one thing she’d always wanted to hear from him.