There are SO many things I dislike about this. I did horrible but hey at least I tried! It was written for a contest on The Hideaway I do not own any of the characters or the Harry Potter series(Books/Movies) and I will not profit from this in any way.

Hermione walked around aimlessly trying to find her way. The Forbidden Forest was dark enough in the daytime, but it was pitch black now seeing as it was night. The wind blew chillingly and made her shiver as goose bumps rose on her arms. The branches of the frighteningly shaped thick trees clicked and clunked in the wind. Calls from different animals she could identify by scientific name and species rang in her head, a ringing she forced herself to ignore because she simply didn't want to think about it, Her wand held out in front of her like a candle She continued on. She had been wandering aimlessly for hours now following anything she could find and so far everything had led her to a dead end. No matter if trees were different or not they all looked the same. Put simply she had been wandering blindly. She knew Harry was in here somewhere she had seen him enter or at least she thought she did. The darkness can often play tricks with peoples minds especially when people hadn't slept in days because of worrying.

Five days ago Professor McGonagall had limped, leaning heavily on her walking stick, into the hospital wing to inform them that Harry Potter had been confirmed as missing and that Teachers and the uninjured, therefore un-hospitalized, members of the DA had been looking for him for a day now without any result. The day they had read the Daily Prophet joking around that Harry's name was clear, she had easily been able to tell he wasn't doing well. He hadn't looked like he'd been sleeping and he had seemed thinner then he had been before to which she grudgingly admitted he probably hadn't been eating much as well. Even Ron oblivious usually to such things had admitted that Harry looked like death warmed over.

Harry had left. There was no other way to put it. He had grabbed any necessary things and whisked himself away to wherever he was now. It stung her heart that he had betrayed her trust, he could have at least told her why or when he was going to leave and where he was going, even if she thought she knew the why. Still, the problem presented itself quite plainly in the fact no one knew where Harry Potter was.

Hermione cried out clutching her ribs from the jolt that ran through her when she tripped on a root, She wasn't quite healed yet and she had snuck out of the Hospital wing. Her friend- 'well, okay.' she admitted 'MORE then a friend, at least in her view.'- was a marked man, a man who most death eaters would do anything to have the head of. She could understand if he needed to have some time alone but did he really need to go to such extremes? She needed to find him, this time his rash behavior really could get him killed. Hell, she didn't know where she was couldn't her behavior be considered rash as well? She froze when she heard the breathing of the large giant Gwarp and tiptoed lightly -as far away from the middle of the thicket where he lay as she could be- around his two trees and continued on in the direction she could only hope Harry had gone. At least the fact she had seen Gwarp made her feel better, she knew roughly what part of the forest she was in and was no longer hopelessly wandering and ultimately lost. Finally she saw something to help her, the bushes to the right of her were bent and pulled aside, a sneaker print clearly visible at wand tip in the forest soil.

She followed the trail with slightly renewed enthusiasm and a dose of good old-fashioned mind over -throbbing ribs- matter. When the path ended she almost laughed aloud at her stupidity. There standing proud and annoyed in front of her was the notorious Womping Willow, branches twitching as it sensed her presence. Levitating a rock and flinging it so it hit the knot near the base of the tree at just the right spot to temporarily freeze the volatile wood's thrashing. As she ran down the tunnel located at the trees base she couldn't help but think Harry had knew someone had seen him and ran through the forest to try and lose whoever it was, after all at the deepest she had went she was not near where the more dangerous parts of the forest were, Gwarp had succeeded in scaring the ever stubborn centaurs away from the part he inhabited seeing as they-though half crazy from bloodline pride- weren't stupid enough to mess with a full bred giant. She should have figured he had walled himself up in the shrieking shack for a few days. After what seemed like forever Hermione emerged in a ripped apart room with a dent in one side of the wall from how viciously their spell had flung Snape backwards almost 2 years ago. Rushing though the room into the rather wrecked bedroom she spied a form cuddled under the blankets on the three-legged bed. Approaching softly she removed the blankets covering the persons head to reveal Harry's face lying halfway beneath his arm as if to shield himself from sight while he slept. She quickly noted how red his eyes were and how his cheeks were still flushed from crying. She'd only seen him cry once, when he had "found out" the widespread false tale of Sirius's guilt and in doing so his parent's plight. Any other tears he had shed she didn't know of. The bottom line was he had to be in a lot of mental pain before he'd cry she'd never even seen him cry over physical pain once. She sat down beside him, absently brushing the fringe of hair covering his scar behind his ear. Hermione was tired and the pain in her body told her she needed her dose of the ten different potions she was taking to heal herself. Suddenly she felt Harry shift beside her and open his eyes blearily.

" Harry?" She said softly Harry jumped the relaxed when he realized whose voice it was.

" What are you doing here?" He questioned realizing Hermione should still be in the hospital wing.

" I was worried so I came to find you." Hermione answered quietly.

" Oh. Sorry."

" Don't mention it." Hermione murmured. " One thing though; why did you leave?"

" I've just felt weird lately." Said Harry then knowing he owed it to Hermione to elaborate he did. " Whenever I'm around people I wish I was alone and when I'm alone I'm lonely. I couldn't stand it so I left so I could try to calm down."

" Has it worked?" inquired Hermione hopefully.

" No."

" Harry………..Sirius wouldn't want you acting like this." Harry opened his mouth and Hermione flinched thinking he'd yell or try to walk away but Harry just sighed.

" I reckon he wouldn't have either." He murmured softly not meeting her eyes.

" What are you going to do?"

" I'll go back to the castle I guess, you need to get back to the hospital wing." He stated bluntly.

" That won't help you though! Tell me what will!"

" I need to forget." Hermione hugged him fiercely suddenly feeling hot tears grace her shoulder as soft sobs graced her ears. Holding him gently to her she whispered softly.

" Then I'll help you forget."

Please read and review!