At the Beginning With You [Harmione]

8. Professors Granger and Potter

Life is a road
And I want to keep going
Love is a river
I wanna keep flowing
Life is a road
Now and forever
Wonderful journey

I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you

- 'At the Beginning' by Richard Marx and Donna Lewis from the movie Anastasia

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Harry found Hermione standing by the window behind McGonagall's desk, looking out over the grounds. She wiped away another tear.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing."

"Yeah right, Hermione, people don't just cry over nothing."

"It's just that - seeing your parents and everyone in the past, they were so happy. It's just sad that - they're all gone. They all died much too young." Harry didn't know what made him do it, but instinct just took him over to Hermione and to wrap his arms around her. It wasn't until after he was giving Hermione a hug that he really realized what he was doing. He never initiated hugs in the past, it was always Hermione. This must not have come to Hermione's mind, for she didn't indicate anything about it. She just leaned her head on Harry's shoulder, and wiped another tear away.

"That's what war does. People die too young when it comes to wars. But they believed in the cause they were fighting for and were willing to die for it. They were all willing to die to make the world a happier life for all of us. Remus told me that."

"He did? When?" Hermione said, lifting her head from Harry's shoulder and looking him in the eyes.

"In the forest, right before I went to meet Voldemort. The Snitch had the Resurrection Stone inside it. When it opened, my parents and Sirius and Remus came out. We talked about Teddy, how I was sorry that he would never know Remus. And he told me that he hoped Teddy would one day understand why he died, and that he died to make the world a better place."

"You never told me that." Harry shrugged.

"It was a minor detail in the whole big picture of the situation." Hermione smiled through her tears.

"Well you were the same as your parents and Sirius and Remus then. You were willing to die for all of us to make the world a better place. They'd be proud of you." Harry smiled back but didn't say anything.

"I wish I could be happy. Like your parents in that memory."

"You can. Maybe after Ron stops being a prat, you can forgive him and move on from all of this." Hermione shook her head.

"I wouldn't be happy with Ron, I know I wouldn't. It's not because of him, but because of the both of us. We don't belong together. He deserves better. Someone who he knows he loves, not who he thinks he loves. Here, I want to show you something. It'll prove why Ron and I are not meant to be together." Hermione led the way back to the pensieve and put her wand to her temple and slowly extracted a silver strand that was her memory and placed it in the basin. The colors of the memory swirled around forming the shapes of Hermione and Ron. Hermione nodded at the basin.

"Go ahead." Both she and Harry stuck their hands in and were again pulled into the pensieve. In Hermione's memory, there were Ron and herself standing in the garden of the Burrow.

"So you're staying there? For good?" Ron asked Memory Hermione.

"It's not like that."

"But you're over there all the time."