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You should be here .
Tears stream down Hermione’s face as she tends to Harry. She’s not sure how long she’s been awake, but there’s no way she can sleep until she can be certain he’s okay. Between making sure he’s breathing, tending to his wounds from the wreckage and fighting against Nagini, and keeping her distance every time he has a night terror, she’s exhausted.
But what can she do? There’s no one to split the load with. It’s just Harry and Hermione. Ron’s still gone. Another choked sob escapes her lips as the constant reminders of his absence still shake her to her very core. And she spends another sleepless night wondering if she’ll ever see him again.
You said you’d be here.
Hermione closes her eyes as yet another tear slips through. Harry’s keeping watch and she’s finally able to get some much needed sleep. Except she can’t.
She’s too afraid that something is going to happen. There’s only two of them. Just like it has been for the last month. If something were to happen, she would never forgive herself.
He said he’d be here.
They promised each other they’d stand by Harry no matter what. She can’t remember how many times they’d spoken about it at the Burrow last summer. Even at Grimmauld Place, he said they’d get through this together. Together.
Over and over again, she tries not to fall apart. She tries not to think of him. Of all the things they could have been, and the sinking feeling grows. Her mind is at war. Conflicting thoughts of anger and grief play on repeat when she can’t distract herself with a book. She’s been over the same scenarios in her head hundreds of times, yet they still play out. Tantalizing her with thoughts of how things could be different if he were still here. But he’s not.
As her eyelids finally droop from exhaustion, a happier image plays in her mind. One of a fantastical reunion—a reunion she knows will only happen in her wildest dreams.
And it was like slow motion.
“Hermione! Hermione, come quick!”
Jolting awake, she throws the covers off her body and runs to the tent flap, burstint through. Defenseless, she looks around for Harry in the early light of dawn, the cold air stinging her cheeks.
“What’s wrong? What happened? Are you alright?”
Her head whips from left to right, searching for danger or threats. And that’s when she sees him.
“More than alright, actually.” Harry speaks, but his words are drowned out by the buzzing in her ears.
This has to be a dream. She can’t possibly be awake. The likelihood of him ever finding them again was so small and yet…
Frozen, she stands there in one of his old Christmas sweaters and lingering hints of the perfume he gifted her fifth year—the only two things she still has to keep him close to her. Though perhaps now, she won’t need them. Assuming he’s not a mirage.
Their eyes lock and he offers her a sheepish grin. But it’s her favorite. The way one side of his mouth raises slightly higher than the other makes her weak in the knees. And before she knows it, she’s running toward him, forgetting that Harry’s around and that she doesn’t have a wand to protect herself in case this is all a trap.
But she doesn’t care. Because if this is Ron and he’s back, there’s only one thing she wants.
She flings her arms around him to break her stride and he gladly catches her. It’s unmistakably him. She knows. Deep down she knows.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers in her ear. “I’m so sorry. I never should have left. I should have been here.”
She could say I know or I told you so, but she doesn’t. She simply holds on tight. Tears fall yet again, but this time they’re because she’s happy. The stars have aligned and she’s just so happy.
And that was the moment she knew.