Picking up a copy of the Daily Prophet was something I did every day, but today's headline hit me like a flying car at 100 mph. "The Brightest Witch of Our Age has Past." At first, I assumed it was Rita Skeeter's Daughter's crap. After all, she was known for writing tons of fake news. Unfortunately, this article was real. It had been a great deal of time since the golden trio had beat Voldmort, but the act would forever be remembered.

What do I do? I didn't know Hermione very well, but I couldn't help but feel connected to her in a small way. I got the chance to meet her in my sixth year at Hogwarts, and she encouraged me to pursue becoming a professor. Here I am now, seven years later getting ready to start my second year as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Without her, I would have mentally turned down the idea. I had no clue how September first would go after her death and that the date was only three days away. Hermione had contributed much after she graduated. She had come back to teach a few wand camps to some of the first years, and she had donated a large portion of money as well.

The article said the cause of death was unknown. Wizards and witches live longer than muggles, but she was a muggle herself, so age could very well be a possibility. But, who knew how many people who had wanted to be death eaters were still out and about.

Others around me appeared to be finding out the same news. Their faces, while in anguish, continued to read the article to the end. Each person reacted slightly differently but looked like we had lost one of the greats.

Wizards and witches had just recently started on the whole technology thing, so there aren't many social media apps yet. I pulled out my p-talk (pocket talk was the best name they had come up with so far) to see what some of the famous wizards and witches were saying. Many had sent comforting hoots to Ron. I owed Hermione a lot so I hooted...

"@thebrightestwitchofourage Although I may have only met you once, you encouraged me to pursue something I never thought I would do well at. Your story has inspired many young wizards and witches to do their best at school. RIP Hermione, you will be greatly mis-"

...

BEEP BEEP BEEP the alarm clock sounded loudly. I awoke with a jerk. It had been all a dream. A bad one, so I guess a nightmare. It's probably good it was only a dream because the Harry Potter fandom would be in chaos at the moment, but the dream had felt so real. The dream made me ask something I had never asked before... How much have these "fictional" characters contributed to my life? The quick answer: quite a bit for sure.