Where: Hogwarts Courtyard When: Immediately after the Battle of Hogwarts Who: @unchosenlion, @wazlibwheezes
It was finally over.
Hermione couldn’t quite believe it, not after seven years of fighting against the man and all his evil (though she supposed third year was a small break... sort of), but there Lord Voldemort was now, on the ground dead as any mortal man may have fallen over, and so utterly unremarkable that it was hard not to burst out into a slightly hysterical laugh. Dead, and there Harry was across from where he had once stood, back from the dead and just so fully alive that Hermione couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled from her chest. Everyone around them seemed uncertain of what to do, but then aurors broke from the crowd and began to arrest those Death Eaters that didn’t die during the fight, and Hermione tightened her grip on Ron’s hand, dragging him across the courtyard toward their best friend.
(And that was something the two of them would have to talk about later, wasn’t it? That could absolutely wait until later, because right now she was elated to have her hand in Ron’s and her best friend alive and she wouldn’t ruin that elation with a petty argument.)
She dragged Ron without paying attention as to whether or not he was saying anything, her mind zeroed in on one thing only, and they’d barely gotten to Harry before Hermione finally let go of Ron’s hand for the first time since they saw Harry’s body and threw her arms around Harry’s neck, holding on tightly and blinking rapidly to hold any and all tears at bay. “Thank god you’re safe,” she said against him, then pulled back enough to whack at his arm and wipe at her eyes. “Don’t you ever go off to die and leave us behind again, do you hear me? That--never again, Harry.”