Disclaimer: I do not own any characters of the Harry-Potter-books and -films, and I do not own the song "With a little help from my friends" by the Beatles.

A.N.: Hi, this is my new story "With a little help", based on a wonderful song by the Beatles.

I actually rewrote it completely; I just like it better this way. I did not post the first version, but I could if you would like me to. And please tell me if you would like a sequel or another chapter.

Ahh, yes: If you want to review, then review. I'd really appreciate it if you did, but I can't force anyone.

Apropos: Thank you to the wonderful, wonderful people who reviewed the last chapter of my story ("Crows")…

I: Good to know. I really hoped someone would ;- )

Chubby redburn: Oh, she doesn't really believe Ron's crow story. And I, too, think that the words "sweet tale" fit the story somehow.

Shadowed Rains: Oh, yes, it was indeed meant to be humoristic. I didn't put it into this category because I thought that it was rather…sarcastic. And if someone wouldn't have liked sarcastic humour and read my story…Well, too bad it would have been... #grins#
No seriously: I contemplated putting it into the categories "Humour/Love", but in the end I didn't because it's just not the common kind of humour. Hard to explain.

Slytherinsux: That was the best compliment I ever got. Thank you. #shy smile#


With a little help by PudelOrange

What would you think

if I sang out of tune,

would you stand up

and walk out on me?

She wondered what they would say if she changed. If she didn't take school that seriously any more. If she didn't work or worry about her work every single minute. If she, for once, didn't do her homework. If they found out, that she had loaded too much work upon her than she could manage by herself. If they found out that she needed her "little friends" to manage.

Lend me your ears

and I'll sing you a song

and I'll try not to

sing out of key.

She tried not to have too many breakdowns. She tried. Hard. Usually, her "little friends" helped her out of her misery, but if even they couldn't lighten her heart, it was Ron's turn. He always managed to make her feel better. The only reason why she didn't cling onto him as if her life depended on it was that she didn't want to consume him. He had his own interests, after all. She wasn't going to bother anyone. Her own problems weren't worth commotion of any sort. She would manage everything. Everything.

Oh, I get by

with a little help from my friends.

Mm, I get high

with a little help from my friends.

Mm, I'm gonna try

with a little help from my friends.

And still, those thoughts crept into her mind… What would it be like if she really were...more loosened up? Would she have more fun than she had now? Possibly. But would she like it? No way. She couldn't imagine herself being different in any way. She just couldn't imagine. She was and would always be the one and only successful, hard-working Hermione. Even if she wanted to she just couldn't change herself, could she?

Do you need anybody?

I need somebody to love.

Could it be anybody?

I want somebody to love.

That was, why she was doing this. This of all things. She despised it, them, her "little friends", but she had nobody she could really…load her problems upon. Harry had a life hard enough, and Ginny…had completely different things on her mind at the moment. Boys. Love. Snogging. All the things Hermione didn't allow to bubble to the surface of her mind.

What do I do when my love is away,

does it worry you to be alone?

How do I feel by the end of the day,

are you sad because you're on your own?

Ron. He was the only one, she could and would possibly bother…But no, no, it just wouldn't work. Whatever it was. Whatever it could be.

Could be. In her thoughts, this phrase occurred more and more often. Involuntarily. It was somehow just nice to think that everything, anything could be. These two words took away her worries of how she was going to live her life without him, once he has found himself a wife: She would dream her life away about what could have been.

A nagging voice somewhere in the back of her head told her that could be and could have been was not the same, but she didn't care; to her, it was. At least in this, his, case.

No, I get by

with a little help from my friends.

Mm, I get high

with a little help from my friends.

Mm, I'm gonna try

with a little help from my friends.

She had her "little friends", after all. After all, yes, after all. After everything. After Ron will have made his own way after school, her "little friends" would, after all, after school, still be there for her. When she knew, feared, that no one else would. Her reasonable, hermionish mind told her to give up hope on anything connected to love, or something close to love, because she just didn't manage to work any thing out. Between her and Krum for example had awkward silence reigned most of the time. Most of the time. Until she had discovered her "little friends" sometime shortly before the Yule Ball. They had helped her forget that Krum had been Krum and not Ron.

Would you believe in a love at first sight?

Yes, I'm certain that it happens all the time.

What do you see when you turn out the light?

I can't tell you, but I know it's mine.

Shortly before the Yule Ball she had also even believed in something happening between her and Ron! Oh, what a silly, silly thought. There was no such something. He had just been protective, as any good friend should have been. Yes, he was a good friend. Oh, shit, he was a good friend. Maybe if he had been a bad one, she wouldn't have wished that he was more this badly.

No, she would have wanted him to love her even if he would have been sorted into Slytherin. She knew that he was everything she wasn't, messy, rude, adorable, and that they would match perfectly, but no, no, it just couldn't be. Maybe she lacked something she hadn't thought of. She knew that she lacked looks, and charm, but he had plenty of these, he wouldn't need more! Oh, oh why couldn't she get her hopes down! Maybe her principles were wrong; maybe you'd have to be and look the same to fit together? Or maybe there was no reason for them not being together! Yes, what if there was no reason at all? If there was no reason for anything? If everything just was, or happened, without a reason for it to be or happen! Oh, that would have ruined her world. Her reasonable, reasonable, little world, that was stretched far beyond possible anyway. That would have taken away her justification for life, and that would have been worse, far worse than anything. Even worse than the plain image of living without Ron sometime in life.

So she just didn't think thus far. Not that she couldn't, she just couldn't bear it.

She couldn't bear knowing that, even if nothing had a reason, anything could happen, even if it wouldn't. Sigh.

Oh, I get by

with a little help from my friends.

Mm, gonna try

with a little help from my friends.

Mm, I'll get high

with a little help from my friends.

Yes, I get by

with a little help from my friends,

with a little help from my friends.

A.N.: Song and story are about drug-taking, or rather "doping". Just in case you didn't know.

The last sentence "…even if nothing had a reason…" is meant exactly the way I've written it.

I hope it is clear that Hermione is not going to commit suicide, she still is too strong to do such a thing. #Be strong too#