She could care less what they thought of her, however bothersome it was; it was Harry she was concerned for.

"Wait," Harry blurted out. She stopped but didn't turn around. "I know you don't like me," he said slowly, regretting every word as it came out.

"Aren't you observant," she said sarcastically while she walked away.

 Harry mentally slapped himself in the face. The signs were all there. She told him she needed him. She told him she didn't feel important anymore and that someone else was above her. She told him she sat up night after night, waiting. She even told him about her parents.

 Now that they were "together" again, Ron would go back to being the third wheel. He knew they weren't doing it on purpose, but it still bothered him.

 "Promise you'll be here when I wake up?"

Hermione snuggled up close to Harry. "I wouldn't rather be anywhere else."

 "...We'll do ten just to play it safe."

"Wait, ten pictures of what?"

"You and Hermione, of course."

"That's a bit narcissistic, isn't it?"

He went through his classes like a zombie, staring blankly into space and giving half-hearted answers only when spoken to. Ron tried to keep him engaged, but Harry’s mind always went back to Hermione.

She produced an entire box full of pictures of Harry and Hermione from first year until recently. How she had managed to do this was beyond Harry.

He loved her dearly, but as the old saying goes, if you love something you have to be willing to set it free.

He wasn't even Harry anymore. He was just him.

How did it come to this? Harry wondered.

So, naturally, everything had to go horribly, horribly wrong.

Despite the circumstances, Harry had to admit he wasa tad glad for the opportunity to fall asleep with and wake up next to Hermione for the next four days. And though she was around her family, he was also glad that he could try to connect with her on a deeper level and perhaps break the final wall she had.

"It's just a funeral. Doesn't make them any more or less dead."

"I'm just saying that there's going to come a time when something's going to go wrong and Harry won't be there to pick up the pieces. And you're going to need to be able to survive on your own."

Hermione blew the comment off. "Harry's always going to be there."

"There's just something I can't shake about all of this. And I don't know why."

"You can't draw a conclusion? I thought it was self-explanatory."

Hermione smirked. "Yes. I just want to hear you say it."