Mistakes

There was an uncontrollable silence between them, no one said a word for over an hour. Both of them fighting their own inner turmoil as her words slowly sunk in. Mistakes in judgement were made, the wrong decision at the wrong time. He had willingly given his heart to her, half expecting for her to mirror his words. Within seconds of holding Harry's heart she shattered it, her words crashed hard against its fragile surface.

Looking at him now filled her with feelings of guilt and regret, knowing how bad he must be feeling right now. Her heart ached to help him, to make him feel better, she even considered lying to him but that would be a horrible thing to do to a broken man. So she did the only thing she could do to help them both, she ran away from him. She ran far down the hall fighting every urge to look back.

It was only a matter of time she knew that Ron would find Harry and everything would change for the worse. If Harry told Ron what had happened it would be obvious for Ron to take his side. Hermione teared up at how quickly their friendship had crumbled into ruble and ash, with little to no hope of reviving it.

They were no longer the Golden Trio, the situation had driven them apart from each other. The boys felt distant from her, their ghostly presence shot daggers into her heart. Her attempts at reconnecting with them were failures, each time Ron pushed Harry away from her. Ron had taken it upon himself to help pick up the pieces of his broken friend. Sadly this went on for weeks, in classrooms, school grounds and even in the Great Hall. Only short glances were what was left of the Golden Trio, nothing more.

It was the night of the big Quidditch game, the entire school crowded the stands cheering on their chosen team. The chasers and beaters zoomed past the stands each trying to gain control of the game. Harry hovered over the action his eyes scanning the entire arena for the snitch, the rain making it a lot more tasking than what he was accustomed to. The crowd roared when Katie Bell tackled the Quaffle free from an opposing player, she then charged straight towards the goal hoops with Alicia Spinnet. The two of them juggled the Quaffle confusing the keeper on which hoop to defend causing him to misjudge completely allowing the girls to score. Lee Jordan calls out another point for the Gryffindor Team, they did a quick flyby to celebrate the Gryffindors cheered. Harry smiled at their success but he knew he still had his job to do. With time ticking down Harry knew he had to find the snitch and fast.

He rubbed his goggles clean and heard a familiar zipping noise. A flash of lightning illuminated the golden snitch flying alone in the center of the arena unphased by the chaos that surrounded it. Harry quickly gave chase pushing his Firebolt to full speed. The other seeker was nowhere to be found so Harry knew he had this in the bag. The snitch took notice of Harry and flew quickly away from his grasp, dashing from side to side and into the stands. Harry gave chase to it, he flew so close to the stands that the crowds' ponchos nearly caught the breeze his broom made. It unexpectedly made a steep dive, Harry followed it with amazing precision not allowing himself to lose sight of it.

His concentration proved unchallenged until an unexpected guest appeared. A quick glance at the Gryffindor crowd he spotted Hermione who looked up at him wearing a sad smile. His mind clashed with incoming thoughts making it hard for him to concentrate on trailing the snitch. A bright flash of lightning nearly blinded him the thunder rang his ears, he reached out with his hand for the snitch. Instead he felt a sharp pain hit him as his arm was violently struck by a bludger, the sheer force causing him to fall out of his broom and into the sand. His back slammed against the sand, his body grinding against it until he was brought to a halt.

The entire stadium filled with gasps and concern whispers. Madam Hooch blew her whistle to signal the end of the match, players and students halted in their place their eyes filled with horror. The staff quickly rushed to Harry's side to take him to the hospital wing. From what they could tell he was unconscious from the hit and he had severe bruising on his arm and body.

Few were permitted to see him, his teammates, Ron, Seamus and Dean were by his side. They stood watching a bruised, bandaged Harry lying on the bed. He had not woken up yet, his body was still healing with the potions the healers had given him. Outside the hospital wing doors, everyone heard loud noises and chatter. Ron left the room to deal with the problem that had just arrived.

As he had expected there she was Hermione practically stomping her way towards him. Ron closed the hospital wing doors behind him. "I need to see him." She said with no chance of stopping her advance. "No." Ron said firmly, standing his ground rejecting her access.

She had not expected him to do this, her chest tightened "What?" disbelief in her voice as she took a few steps back. Ron crossed his arms and looked down "I always thought it was Voldemort who was going to kill him in the end but I guess I was wrong." Hermione was filled with so many questions none of them answers, "What do you mean Ron?" she asked feeling her chest tighten even more.

He gave her a stern look and said "You're the one killing him…" his words put Hermione into shock. Her heart ached inside of her, she was the one doing this to him. It pained her on the inside knowing the truth, "Every time you give him false hope he dies a little bit more inside, I can see it everyday it's killing him." Her mind begged for her to explain herself to Ron but no words came out of her mouth.

"In honor of our childhood friendship and more importantly the well being of my best mate I'm asking you to stay away from him." This was the final blow, Hermione had officially lost the both of them. "But… Ron… I?" she struggle with words, desperately trying to fix the damage she had caused.

"I can't stand to watch him suffer any longer, he's already suffered enough for one lifetime." Ron spoke genuinely, there was no denying that he had spoken the truth. But undoubtedly the truth hurts, she could feel her eyes redden and her vision start to blur. He looked down again and sighed "Hermione please…" at that moment she couldn't stop herself, she ran off sobbing.

A few days later

Hermione had isolated herself and had time to think, think everything through. Her life was in pieces, she was sobbing into her pillow every night at what she had done. She had lost her two best friends and more importantly she had lost Harry. He meant the world to her, she screamed at herself for making the mistake of rejecting him all those nights ago. One thought kept appearing in her mind, she had to see him and fix this.

The healers did one last walk around the hospital wing, making sure their single patient was well and safe. Closing the door behind them they escaped to their quarters for the night. Harry shut his eyes attempting to fall asleep but the bitter aftertaste of the potions the healers brewed for him didn't help. The door creaked slightly, Harry brushed off the sound and went back to trying to go to sleep.

Harry's mind was on full alert when he felt a hand land on his sheets, "Harry I…" he knew that voice anywhere. When he didn't hear the voice anymore he concluded that he was hallucinating and ignored it. "Harry…. You're friendship has brought many joys to my life, you've been there for me even in the most darkest of times and I'm so lucky to have had that gift." no this was real, she's here with me he thought. "I…. I miss you so much and I…. was so scared." she sounded like she had been crying, his heart ached at hearing her like this. "Don't leave me… please… I… I love you." Harry's eyes snapped open, his mind screamed loudly on the inside 'she loved him' he lifted himself up, Hermione probably didn't expect that she almost fell back onto the bed behind her.

He grabbed his glasses to look at her clearly, her nose and eyes were pink. Stray tears flowed down her cheek ever so often, "What did you say…" she choked out a sob unable to talk at her state "You love me?" his voice reflecting his disbelief. She nodded at him confirming his question, Harry forgot everything and reached over, cupping her cheek. All in one swift motion, he kissed her with all the hidden passion he had saved just for her. It wasn't a romantic kiss, to be honest it was rather sloppy with Hermione still letting loose a few stray tears before giving in kissing Harry back. Their hearts melted overfilled with joy and love, without a single ounce of regret. When they parted, Harry pulled her into a hug in which she happily accepted. They stayed there unsure of the future, the challenges and hardships they may face but at least they know that they will face the future together.