The Day After Tomorrow

A GOLDEN SUN

47 - A GOLDEN SUN

THEY had parted ways not long after the funeral. Draco had gone off with the Greengrass' like a shadow. When she'd watched them go, he'd stood a bit behind the rest, a silent presence not quite family, but almost.

All the while she'd replayed his words in her head, letting them echo against the chambers of her mind till her heart was full.

You Granger, make me happy.

Astoria had done that. Hermione could tell. Perhaps all along she'd known, she'd poked and prodded in all the right moments, noticing and reporting the little things that they'd been too afraid to say out loud.

Part of her wondered if it would have ended completely differently if Astoria had never seen her that night, never seen the shifting luminous shape of a full-scale dragon sliding from the end of her wand, spreading its waxy translucent wings into the silence of the garden.

She'd never be able to thank her, Hermione realised with a hollow feeling. This girl that had been braver than she had to do the one thing she'd almost been about to do: give him up. Hermione took a shuddering breath, glancing up at the looming brick shape of the Greengrass manor.

She wasn't sure she had it in here to remain longer, in some ways she felt like she'd overstayed her welcome. In fact the family were probably waiting for a moment alone to just feel, without having to be watched. She'd glanced up the long garden lane, and caught sight of Luna standing beside Nott, in that moment it had reminded Hermione of the sun and moon, equal halves of a whole.

She used to feel that way, about Harry and Ron, as if each of them were a third of something greater. Some small part of her wondered if they still fit together that way or if they had become like jigsaw pieces that had outgrown each other.

She'd been almost relieved when they'd asked her out for a drink, as if it was some kind of proof that their friendship still fit.

For old time's sake, their note had read.

They hadn't come to the funeral, in fact Hermione wondered if they had even been invited, and then inevitably, asked herself, why had she been included? It was like a black hole of a question and yet, for the first time in a long time she didn't have the urge to answer it or investigate it. She was too filled with a strange gratefulness to this girl she hadn't known to ask questions, it felt almost like a sense of kinship.

She had appartated away with that same feeling like a buoy, walking past muggles in search of the address. When she spotted the building, she crossed the street carefully and pushed open the wooden door to the muggle pub. It was nestled in the corner off a busy London Highstreet and though it was a busy night, the inside of the pub felt sleepy almost, as if it was filled with regulars. The man behind the bar raised a brow at her but asked no questions as she stepped across the worn boards, dodging bustling tables to find the tall table Ron and Harry were leaning against.

They looked so familiar it made her heart ache for all the time they'd been together, just them three against the world. Ron stood from his stool and enveloped her in a citrus cider smelling hug and she peered over his shoulders to spot two tall glasses of light gold liquid.

She met Harry's eyes and the wary affection in them made her chest tighten like it was being pulled by a string. When she hugged him, something told her from the way he tucked his head into her shoulder, and held her like she was going to disappear, that he was apologising - in typical Harry fashion, for more things than he was willing to say.

"How was it?" Asked Harry from her shoulder, drawing back to sit, his eyes darting between hers like he would find a summary there. Even if he'd been invited, some part of Harry wondered if he would have even gone. He would have felt like an imposter amongst them all, arriving for the sake of showing up because he'd been invited. He didn't want to infringe on their grief, as just another spectator. No, he knew what it meant to lose a loved one, and he knew better than most what if felt like to wish for privacy and not get it.