Hermione lay curled up on one of the love seats in the Gryffindor common room, sobbing her heart out. Laying discarded on the floor was a book.
Harry, who had been in detention that night, climbed through the portrait hole, and glanced around the room. They were the only two there.
Hermione let out a choked sob, and pulled the blanket she had wrapped around her over her head.
The green eyed boy walked over to the bookworm, crouching at her feet, careful of the discarded book. He placed a hand on where he believed her shoulder was, and whispered "'Mione?"
The girl swallowed another sob, and moved to look at Harry. He eyes were filled to the brim with tears, and the sight just made him worry something was wrong. "What happened?" he asked her in a panic.
A giggle escaped the girl, which sounded rather weird, because she hadn't stopped crying. "Nothing's wrong Harry, don't worry so much. I just read a really sad book, that's all."
Harry felt the relief wash over him in waves. "Did a fictional character die?" he teased his friend, but he did want to know how it had made her so upset.
"Too many fictional characters died." the bookworm sighed.
She opened her arms up for a hug, and shifted over to allow the boy to sit. He accepted, and comforted his friend, awkward as he thought it was, and consoled her until her tears finally diminished.
"Thank you Harry, I needed that." Hermione left the common room for the girls' dormitories.
Just as the black haired boy was about to go up to bed himself, he kicked the book Hermione had forgotten. He opened it to the first page, and was so drawn into the novel that he never made it to bed that night.
When Hermione came down the next morning, Harry was still there, almost at the end of the book, sobbing just like she had been the night before.
The girl shook her head, and walked over to console her friend like he had, wrapping her arms around him, but so that he could still read. When he finally finished, all she could mutter was, "I know. I know."