"And I won't ever come back here to this place.
All I ever do is picture you smiling, and then picture you leaving.
And the glass in the trees, and all you left here,
Reflects everything that I missed."
My best friend lay dying. This couldn’t be happening. Hermione Granger was the last
member of the so-called “Golden Trio”, and she was dying of a cancer that no one could stop. The brightest team of Healers couldn’t do anything but try to make her comfortable in her last days. She was still in pain though. I went to see her at my lunch hour, just as I had every day since her diagnosis. Her beautiful brown curls were gone; a side effect of the powerful spells that were cast to try and kill her cancer. She looked weak and was pale. I could see the purple veins in her arms.
I opened the door to Room Forty Five; a room I had come to hate. It was bland and seemed to scream of loneliness and death. She was lying on her bed, a book propped in her hand. Despite the situation, I smiled to myself. Hermione’s books brought her comfort in her darkest times, and now was no different. The book she was reading now was, of course, ‘Hogwarts, A History’. She glanced up and saw me standing in the doorway.
“Ginny!” She said, a slow smile lighting up her face. “Come in!”
“Do you always have that book on you?” I asked. She glared at me.
“I’m always finding out new things from it. You should really try reading it.”
“No thanks. I went to Hogwarts, and I learned more from you then from some silly book.” I said, trying to keep my voice under control. I didn’t want her to see my pain. I knew she was going to leave me, just like everyone else did. Hermione and I were the only ones who had survived the final battle. Harry died, but he took Voldemort down with him. Ron had taken a Killing Curse that had been aimed for Hermione, and the rest of my family had died in different parts of the war. Our combined losses were more horrific then what we could handle. I had no one but Hermione left. After the war, we got a flat in London together. We spent the first week crying ourselves to sleep at night, and doing nothing during the day. The nights were worse. Ron and Hermione had gotten married right after Hogwarts. She wasn’t used to being alone. Hermione became depressed, and was on the verge of committing suicide. About two weeks after Ron’s death, she learned she was pregnant. I expected her to be incredibly heartbroken to be expecting a child that the father would never know, but instead, she was elated. Ron would still be with her, in the form of a baby. Hermione was excited to have this baby. Then, a month after she learned she was pregnant, she miscarried. We were back in the cycle of crying ourselves to sleep for a child who would never live. I too, felt the pain Hermione was going through. Harry had just proposed to me before the final battle. He said that he wanted me to have the ring, even if he died, just to remind me of him. I still wear that ring. It was the only thing, save Hermione, that gave me comfort in the long days after the war. I mourned the loss of a life with Harry, and she mourned the loss of her family. She was my support system and I was hers. When Hermione was diagnosed with lung cancer, we were both shocked. Hermione had never once in her life smoked; she was one of the healthiest people I knew. Her good health, however, lead everyone to believe she was fine, so the cancer went untreated for a long time.
We finally learned that Hermione was ill when she collapsed after walking around our block. She barely made it home. When I opened the door for her she fell into my arms, and I immediately apparated us to St. Mungo’s. Four hours of tests later, the results came back. She was diagnosed with Adenocarcinoma, which, at the time, was nothing but a very big word. She was checked into the hospital, and whisked off to several different rooms with specialists and medicine that would hopefully cure her. I was sent home for rest, but I came back an hour later to bring her her things and to be with her. Hermione was scared. It was one of the first times that I really saw her afraid. Whenever she went into battle with Harry and Ron, she never was frightened. She said it was because she felt no one could harm him with her two best friends at her side. Now, all she had was me-a constant reminder of both of the most important men in her life.
I was told that the cancer was bad, very bad. The healers were able to stop it from spreading to her other organs, but it was too late to save her lungs. There was nothing they could do but hope for a miracle.
The pain she felt was nothing compared to mine. After all, I was losing the last person that I cared about. There were times when I thought about suicide, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Not only was I in pain, I was a coward. I justified being unable to take my life by saying that Hermione needed me in her last moments. I tried to live by that. I spent nights and weekends at the hospital. I gave up breaks just to see her for a few minutes, because I never knew which minutes would be her last. She steadily grew worse, but she never let on. She laughed and smiled, but soon they began to fade. Hermione was tired all the time, and didn’t feel up to talking or doing anything. Soon all we would do would was just sit there.
The healers called me in that day. She wasn’t doing well. She had a rough night, and the medicine seemed to be failing. I didn’t want to believe that this would be the end. It was hard for me to grasp that the woman who had helped defeat Voldemort was being killed from the inside and she couldn’t stop it. Her vast intelligence couldn’t save her. I came in like the healers asked. They thought that it may benefit Hermione to see her last friend but one more time. They knew that this was her inevitable end. She was so young…
The healers allowed me to take her out for one glorious day. It was as if this would be the last chance for her to be truly alive before she had to go back for more medicine. Spells were cast on her for strength and resistance to infections. We went to Diagon Alley. The place had changed since I had last been there. When Hermione was diagnosed, I didn’t spend much time doing anything that we had done together. It was too hard to see all the places that we had been; healthy and happy. We went to Fortescue’s and had all the ice cream we could eat. After stuffing our faces with Butterbeer, Chocolate Cake, Peppermint, Caramel, and Peanut Butter flavored ice cream, Hermione and I walked over to Madame Malkins, where we tried on loads of beautiful dress robes. We giggled as we tried on low cut halters, and tight fitting dresses with full skirts. Hermione’s face lit up when we passed Flourish and Blott’s, and we stopped in. Loaded down with new books, we went into Eeylops Owl Emporium to see all the new owls they had. There was a snowy one that looked exactly like Hedwig. The owl flew over to us and landed on her shoulder. She froze in shock. The owl nibbled her ear affectionately, and then hopped over to my shoulder and rubbed its head against my face. It soared out an open window that had carelessly been left open. We stared out after the owl and glanced at each other. It was as if Harry had sent us a sign.
After watching the owl disappear into the sun, we left for Hogsmeade. The two of us stopped in the Three Broomsticks for lunch before headed back to the shops. We walked up the long road, taking in the lovely summer colors. The flowers had bloomed, dotting the landscape with yellow, blue, red and purple. The trees were green and full of life.
“Look at the trees Ginny,” Hermione said, pointing to a large full one in particular.
“What’s so special about it?” I asked, thoroughly confused as to why she was talking about a tree.
“It’s because of the trees we are alive. They produce oxygen so we can breath. They provide more life for those lucky enough to live it. They reflect our lives” She said. The truth in her words was biting. It cut through my skin and pieced my heart. She was full aware of her failing body. Lately, she had taken to stating the naked truth, just like Luna.
“The trees will always be there. They were there before we were born and will be there after we die. And when they get cut down, a new one grows in its place.”
That day would be the last time I would ever see her alive. We talked, cried, laughed and reminisced. We had gone through so much together. I felt that she used up the last of her strength to make sure that I was going to be okay. The day after our day out, I received an owl from St. Mungo’s.
Dear Ms. Weasley,
I am sorry to inform you but Ms. Hermione Granger passed away this morning at exactly 7:34 A.M. She died of her cancer in her sleep. We at St. Mungo’s offer our condolences on your loss.
Erin Chamberlain, Chief Healer
The last thing she confided in me before she died was that she was happy. She knew she was going to die soon and that she was happy about it. She would see Ron soon. She would see Harry. She would see the rest of my family and everyone who died in the war. She wasn’t afraid of death.
“Ginny, you will always be my best friend, in life or death. No one can change that. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. You will be too. I’ll always be with you, no mater what.”
I crumpled the letter in my hand and let the tears fall.
"They've cut down the trees to try to forget you.
But I took a vow to never forget you.
If you're still here, then we're waiting."
To Never Forget You by Dear Irony
Chapter Notes: A/N I do not own the Potterverse. That belongs to JKR. I do not own "Glass In The Trees" either. That belongs to Dead Poetic.