video; man's greatest treasure (after the blood rains stop)

[reparo]

[The video isn't accidental this time, and focuses on Hermione - her face rosy-cheeked and smiling, actually smiling.


To the observant eye, one can tell she's in the old, dilapidated house that some people used during the final battle in Hatthevar as a sort of refuge. (It's the Macarena house.)]

Friends - ah, I've been thinking all day what I'd say to us all after a battle as final and difficult and hard as this one. I didn't get to say this to my friends back home, I didn't get the chance to say this to Harry, but...here goes.

Well done. You did your best, and you somehow saved the day. Look at this place. Look at this world! I know the beacons are being repaired, so it's still sometime before we leave but I think we could say we're leaving it better than we found it?

[Like it's hard. She lets out a tiny laugh.]

Also, I think - and I'm not taking any feedback on this - that I've earned myself this.

[The view focuses on the floor, where she is sitting currently, and specifically on a half-empty bottle of wine. Hermione gone wild.]

Comments

[reparo]

[And definitely not stealing.]

No, let me shower you with praise now. It's been a long journey and I'm exhausted, and I want to say that I feel honoured to be your friend and your partner in arms in so many things.

[A hiccup here as she contemplates her drink.]

Also, I'm so glad I've never earned myself your medical disapproval.

[silverneedles]

[ Look, she is not going to ask where the books come from. It's enough they exist. ]

So being exhausted makes you sappy? [ She's teasing, and that's clear in her voice. ] Thank you for being my friend and partner in this. We had an adventure, didn't we?

[ A soft laugh as she considers that. ]

You're smart, and that showed up in taking care of yourself.

[reparo]

[As sappy as a tree, and misty-eyed to top it off, not that she shows it.

Instead there's an amused laugh, a huff.] Yes, well, I couldn't be reckless with my health when I knew I'd be judged. I still remember the scolding you gave sailors about scurvy...

[silverneedles]

[ They needed it! But oh, what a lovely memory. ]

Admittedly, I was rather cross when I had to give them that lecture. The waters do not agree with me. I would have cured you, should anything have befallen.

[reparo]

I have no doubt.

You should have said! I carried mint leaves for seasickness on every boat journey - granted I was in the cell for most of that one.

[silverneedles]

There were a few things to help, luckily. If you're here the next boat ride I take, I will ask about those mint leaves.

That trip was a significant part of your criminal record.

1/2

[reparo]

[A low chuckle.] Yes, well. It all started with that skull collector, and went downhill from there.

[So she's not saying that it's Wen Qing's fault, but...]

[reparo]

[After a moment.]

I want to be here for your next boat journey.

[silverneedles]

[ Oh. Oh. ]

Are you planning on returning through the beacons?

[reparo]

I - yes - it feels like everyone else will be, and like we've at last found East, so...

[silverneedles]

So there's no point in staying, really. I'm grappling with that question.

Do you look forward to going home?

[reparo]

... it's complicated. I'm terrified, but I miss them. I want to return but I will have changed so much and - what if I've changed too much? What if my friends don't recognise me anymore?

How am I going to fit inside my nineteen year old body now?