After Hogwarts: Memories that Linger 💫

Part One 🌸

Ginny awoke once more, like she had done day after day since the battle of Hogwarts. Kids had died. Kids had gone home. The paintings had disappeared from their frames, the ghosts floated absent-mindedly away. Teachers had packed up and left. She had overheard them talking about how Hogwarts cannot be returned to, and they were working on a new school nearer Edinburgh. She thought about these last words and she slinked through the shadows as she so often did now. She was positive she was the only person left in the fragile ruins of the castle she once called home, but she knew she must not be seen so she was cautious not to expose herself. She went up to the astronomy tower and gazed over the horizon, behind the forbidden forest, deserted by all previous residents, and watched the rising sun, as it painted the sky pink and purple.
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Hermione lifted herself carefully from the stone steps, aware that they may collapse at any moment without warning. She had stayed at Hogwarts after the brutal battle which tore her heart apart, desperate to cling on the something familiar. It was all she had left now, given that her parents had moved to Australia and had no knowledge whatsoever that they had a seventeen year old daughter who just played a vital role in defeating one of the most dangerous dark wizards of all time. The cold September wind rattled her bones, for she had nothing but a thin blue jacket to protect her from the autumn weather. She counted up the months since the battle. Today was September 2nd, exactly four months since the start of the battle. Today was September 2nd, the day that all the students would return. Today was September 2nd, and Hermione would have left, and in her place first years should be piling in now. She waited in the chilly shadows of the courtyard, but still no one came. Evening approached, and she went back to the dormitory to sleep in one of the beds not destroyed.