Chapter 1: In Which a Heart Is Broken

A/N: Hello! I first want to give a warning

WARNING: This is Hurt/Comfort, but it's not going to be pretty. There will be mentions of suicide and Character Death

Now that that's done and over with, I appreciate you guys reading. Please don't take me too seriously. This Fic is canon except for epilogue and of course, Snape lives, the tenacious bastard.

Disclaimer: I don't own, nor do I make any money from Harry Potter.

Hermione looked down at the letter in her hands, not seeing what was really there. She had just got them back. She had just got them to trust her again. Now they were gone forever. She looked down at her letter again.

Ms. Hermione Granger:

We regret to inform you that on July 27, 2000, John H. Granger and Helen J. Granger perished in a car crash. ….

She couldn't read any more of the automatically generated letter. She couldn't bear to hear any more of the fake condolences forced upon her. She had seen them just the other day. Their smiling faces waving goodbye to her were in her mind's eye as she tore through her parent's house.

Rage was coursing through her, but there was something else behind her emotions. She pounded up the stairs to her parent's bedroom. Hermione sobbed when she saw a solitary photograph of her and her parents on a ski trip. It was a muggle photograph, but the amount of love that was held in her parent's eyes seemed to tear her heart in two. She grabbed the picture frame and threw it against the wall. The glass shattered, some of it flying back onto her, and the frame broke in two.

Grief broke through her rage. It tore at her chest, and the young woman started crying in earnest. She had failed them, and Hermione Granger did not take failure lightly. She had managed to get her parents through the war unscathed, but she had failed to protect them when they needed her the most.

Her magic started rushing forwards. Her parents' dresser flew against the opposite wall. Pieces of wood, clothing, and blankets swirled around the room. Hermione didn't have control anymore. She was scared, but there was nothing she could do to stop the onslaught of grief, anger, and magic from flowing through her. Her parents' belongings started to disintegrate one by one until she was surrounded by the ashes of her childhood. The last of her magic burst forth and ignited the dust, as well as the walls of her parent's rooms.

Suddenly she felt the familiar squeeze of apparition, and was gone.

Minerva McGonagall was staring out of the window of the Headmaster's office at the front gates of her beloved school. Earlier in the week, they had finished repairing the castle, but the scars of the war had not yet faded. They were planning to reopen the school this fall, but she knew not how many people would be coming back if any would come back at all. She knew exactly how many people had died on both sides. There would not be many students left.

A faint sound and movement just beyond the gates of Hogwarts caught her attention. Someone had appeared around ten feet in the air and fell to the ground with a sickening crack. Without thinking, the old woman apparated to the fallen figure.

To her surprise, it was Hermione Granger. The girl's leg was twisted at an odd angle and her clothes were badly burnt. Then the woman noticed the blood. She quickly sent a Patronus to Poppy and bent down to gently shake the girl.

"Ms. Granger, what happened?"

She didn't receive an answer, which worried her all the more. Minerva turned back to the castle and saw Poppy rushing across the castle grounds.

"Minerva? Whatever happened?"

"I don't know, I fear she was attacked."

"Let's get her up to the castle."

They levitated her prone form to the hospital wing and placed her on one of the new, pristine white cots. The mediwitch bustled around the girl nervously while the Headmistress sat in a nearby chair, a look of worry plastered on her face.

When Hermione awoke, she was confused and in pain. It wasn't normal pain, she noticed. She had been tortured with both a knife and the cruciatus curse, but nothing had ever come close to this before. It felt like she ached from the inside out. The safe comfort of sleep left her completely and the pain hit her full force.

She let out an ear piercing shriek that startled the mediwitch sitting next to her. The older woman jumped up and conjured straps that tethered her arms, legs, and head down to the table before pouring a potion down her throat. The matronly woman cooed and hushed as Hermione lost consciousness once more.

Hermione was drifting through unconsciousness when she was suddenly awoken. A man was pointing his wand at her. He looked familiar, but she couldn't place his face. She noticed she wasn't in pain, but she couldn't feel her body either. It felt strange being awake when she shouldn't have been. Her brain slowly began working and she realized that she must have been envennerated.

The man was talking to her, but what he was saying didn't make any sense. It sounded like he was talking from miles away.

"Ms. Granger, can you hear me?" The man said.

She nodded her head.

"What happened?" He asked.

Hermione tried to find her voice. It felt like hours before she could answer.

"Parents," was all she could get out.

"Did they die?" The man asked, no kindness or sympathy in his eyes.

She nodded again.

"Was it Death Eaters?" he asked.

Hermione shook her head.

"What was it then?"

Hermione could tell he was getting more and more annoyed, so she mustered her strength to speak again.

"Car-"

It was all she could get out before her world faded to black once again.

Once again, Hermione found herself forcibly awakened. The colors around her swam around. After a couple of minutes, everything came into view. She saw two familiar people, but she couldn't tell who.

"Don't make her talk, it's too much effort," came a voice from behind them.

"Oh Hermione, we are so sorry," The one with pretty green eyes spoke softly.

She vaguely wondered what a "Hermione" was.

"You are going to get through this, and we aren't going to leave you," the one with shocking red hair said.

"We love you," the green-eyed one said.

They both looked close to tears, and Hermione wished she knew who these people were and why they were so sad. Hermione felt tired all of the sudden and welcomed the comforting embrace of sleep.

This time, the young woman awoke on her own. She felt weak and tired. She braced for the terrible pain that had accompanied her first awakening, but none came.

Hermione turned on her side and saw a familiar freckled face sitting next to her. She tried to reach out to stroke his face but found she could barely move her arm. She cleared her throat, startling the boy sitting next to her. He rubbed his eyes and smiled at her. When he realized her eyes were open, he jumped out of his chair.

"Hermione! You're awake!" He shouted excitedly.

Hermione tried to speak, opening and closing her mouth without any words coming out.

"You hold on, I am going to get Madame Pomfrey."

He ran out of the white curtains cutting her off from the rest of the room. Hermione laid back and closed her eyes. She realized that her body was stiff and she might not be able to walk, even if she tried.

"I swear she was awake, Madame Pomfrey," Ron said.

"You were probably dreaming my dear, go up to your dorm."

Hermione, hearing the voices, opened her eyes. Poppy gasped and dropped whatever was in her hands.

"Ms. Granger, you're with us. How do you feel?"

"Water," Hermione said, her mouth feeling as dry as a bone.

Madame Pomfrey turned away and Hermione looked back at Ron.

"I've got to go get Harry," he said and dashed from the room.

Poppy came back with a cup of water and held it up to her lips. The cool liquid rushed into her mouth and dripped on her face. When she had drunk her fill, Madame Pomfrey pulled the cup away. She left Hermione's side and went back to her office. Hermione was alone with her thoughts for the first time in who knows how long. She wished she could see out of the windows so she could see what season it was, but they were covered by heavy and imposing drapes.

The doors of the hospital wing banged open and a figure in dark clothing strode into the room.

"Poppy," he said in a familiar voice, "has there been any change in Ms. Gra-"

The man glanced over to her bed and his question was cut short. Hermione finally recognized him.

"Professor Snape!" She exclaimed in a raspy voice.

"It seems as though you've regained your consciousness. That's good."

He rushed over to her bed and started casting diagnostic spells, muttering under his breath. He, too, left to confront Poppy in her office. She strained her ears to hear what was being said.

"Why didn't you alert me as soon as she woke?"

Snape seemed angry.

"She only just woke up. I was putting it on her chart and then I was going to owl you and Minerva."
"What if she had slipped back into unconsciousness?"

"Now, Severus, you're being unreasonable."

Hermione's attention was torn away as her two best friends rushed to her side.

"Hermione," Harry whispered, tears in his eyes, "You really are awake."

The raven-haired boy leaned over and kissed her on the top of her head.

"We were here every night. We never left you alone, not once since we learned of your condition," He continued, giving her a knowing look.

She had flashbacks of their time "camping" in the Forest of Dean. She nodded to him.

"Thank you."

Hermione was starting to feel drowsy again. When her eyes started drifting closed, both of the boys' eyes widened and Ron ran from the bed.

"Pomfrey! She's closing her eyes."

Both Pomfrey and Snape rushed to her bedside. The mediwitch cast a spell and breathed a sigh of relief.

"She's just going to sleep, she must be exhausted. You boys should go upstairs and get some sleep."

"Ron, you go. I'll stay from here on out," Harry motioned for Ron to leave.

The last thing Hermione saw was Snape's eyes and the concern they held. She fell into a confused slumber.

Hermione came out of her fitful sleep and was confronted by an odd sight. Hermione and Ron were at the foot of her bed writing on make-shift desks. Hermione raised her head and cleared her throat. The boys looked up and looked sheepish when she raised her eyebrow.

"You see," Harry started, answering her unasked question, "you were asleep for so long, and we weren't going to leave you alone. So we just started doing our homework here. It kind of made us feel closer to you in a weird sort of way."

Hermione smiled, touched that her friends cared so much about her.

"I didn't know you guys would come back for your eighth year," She stated.

"We weren't. When we went to the Auror's office to apply, figuring that, you know, with the whole saving the wizarding world and everything, we would get the job right away. Apparently, no many times you've defeated Voldemort," Ron paused and threw a teasing look at Harry, "you still have to sit your N.E.W.T.S."

Hermione laughed and then grimaced in pain. Harry muttered about having to get Snape and left.

"Snape-" Hermione gave Ron a glare and he rolled his eyes, "Professor Snape has been overseeing your treatment. I never thought the man could care about anything, but you learn something new every day, I guess."

Ron turned back to his essay. Hermione wanted to get up and start walking around but found out that she could not move a muscle. She focused all of her attention on lifting her right arm. It seemed impossibly hard, but eventually, she raised it off of the hospital bed. Sweat started to bead on her forehead as she raised it more and more.

"Ms. Granger, you stop that this minute!" A deep voice exclaimed.

Snape walked over to her side and forced her hand down on the bed. He started muttering spells over her body. Hermione thought it was strange he would care so much. The professor caught Hermione looking at him, confusion in her eyes, scowled, and walked towards Poppy's office, robes billowing behind him.

A/n: I'll probably update tomorrow. I have an essay due today and I just want to play red dead redemption 2 honestly.