A/N: Yeah, so this is where things start to get a little... different where characterization is involved with Hermione. Although you might think this whole thing is OOC with all of the characters. Ah, the dangers of experimentation!

Chapter Two

Harry's brains were just about to slide out of his ears from boredom as the head of the healing department dragged him through yet another tour of St. Mungo's. Who cared who was in what ward? Didn't they have directories for this sort of thing?

He deliberately fell behind the droning head lead the group down the hallway for permanent residents, all the while praying that he didn't run into Lockhart.

In the end, however, Harry would have gladly gone back and collected autographs, rather than what actually happened.

"... come on, Alaina... come on--" coaxed an all too familiar voice.

Hermione.

He moved toward the doorway, which was only barely cracked open. He chanced a glance into the room, and his heart constricted, causing a dull ache in his heart as if it were unused to it.

Hermione was kneeling at the end of the ward, as a little girl of about four made a painful, aimless path toward her. Three people, a healer and presumably Alaina's parents, watched in silence. The woman had tears trickling down her face, although they were tears of anticipation.

"Come on, sweetheart." coaxed Hermione, and the compassion in her voice caused a sharp pang in Harry's heart. "You're doing so well."

The girl froze, then slowly turned her head. Harry barely contained a gasp.

The girl was blind.

And her legs were rather stiff, due to the fact that metal braces were strapped around them. But as she stilled, a smile of joy blazed across the pale little face.

And amid the gasps and cries of, "It's a miracle!", little Alaina dashed towards Hermione, arms outstretched. Her hoarse voice screamed one word and one word only, "Mione! Mione!"

And Hermione caught the girl in her arms , a radiant smile shining on her face, tears racing fast down her cheeks. And Hermione was crying-- sobbing with joy, stroking Alaina's red locks and crying, "Oh, yes, yes, darling, you've done it!"

And Harry realized exactly why Hermione had wanted him to come:

She had wanted him to share in her joy.

Unable to watch any longer, Harry backed away from the door, back pressed against the wall, heart throbbing and ears ringing painfully.

"Take her home." he heard Hermione say to the parents, who were both sobbing now. "Please, take her home!"

"We'll never be able to thank you, Healer Granger, never enough." wailed the woman, and the man added thickly, "If there's anything we can ever do--"

"Just love her as you always have." Hermione's voice was heard saying, "She deserves to go home, finally."

"She'll be with us for the first time, John!" the woman sobbed, and the man choked back a sob of his own. "Come on, darling--"

Harry backed quickly into a shadow as the deliriously happy couple took their daughter home. He crept the door as he heard the healer speak.

"You've preformed nothing short of a miracle here, Hermione."

"I must say I'm a bit in shock, myself." she admitted, though Harry could tell she was still smiling. "But Alaina had the willpower to break that curse, I knew she did."

A chuckle.

"That determination in itself is admirable, Hermione. But..."

His voice trailed.

"In your condition, working on things like this could be--"

"I know, Ben, I know." Hermione said, cutting him off. "I just love this work too much to stop."

"Well, if there's anything I can do--"

"Thanks, Ben."

Before Harry could even properly begin to process this conversation, the door flew open. A young man in Healer's robes stared at him.

"Good Merlin." he said in surprise. "Hermione, your no-show showed up anyway."

"What?"

Hermione appeared in the doorway. Her eyes narrowed as soon as they landed on Harry.

"Harry." she said, her brown eyes flashing. "Ben, would you mind--"

"No, of course not." he said, nodding and quickly moving to the room next

door. "Pleasant day, Hermione."

She watched him go. Harry was surprised to see a small smile playing at her lips.

Of course it vanished immediately as she turned on him.

"Bit late, were you?" she said in a voice of forced calm.

"Hermione, I--"

"You know what." Hermione said angrily, "To quote Luna, I can't have this conversation now. Not here."

And she turned and strode down the hallway, her light blue robes rippling with her swift movement.

"Hermione!"

He wasn't sure what he was going to say anyway. But he knew he couldn't

let her just walk away. He caught her arm.

"Let me go, Harry." she said, pulling away. "Go to Ginny and let her make you feel better, because there's nothing I'm going to be able to do for you."

He winced.

"I'm sorry." he said finally. The words came painfully, but he knew he had to say them.

She paused, looking surprised.

After an awkward moment of silence in which she scanned his face, she said, "I believe that's the first sincere apology you've uttered in the past two years, which is, if you don't mind me saying, pitiful, considering how many times you've told me that you were 'sorry'."

Harry ventured a tentative grin.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?"

Merlin. Couldn't she stay still for a moment? Harry hurried after her.

"Lunch?" he offered.

"Harry, leave me alone."

"No." he said stubbornly, catching her arm. What, did she think she could just walk all over him and leave it at that? "Come on, Hermione."

"No, to answer your question. Ginny wouldn't be happy if you were seen with me."

Frustrated, he said, "My life doesn't revolve around Ginny, you know!"

She raised a skeptical eyebrow. He hated himself for flushing.

"Go home, Harry." she said finally. "I'm busy and frankly, this is a waste of time."

Harry felt anger bubble in his stomach.

"So that's it, then?" he said angrily, matching her pace and following her. "You're just going to throw away our friendshi--"

"If you say friendship, I'm going to laugh." Hermione said coldly. "This isn't friendship, Harry. I don't know what happened after the war, but you simply don't care about me anymore, and there's no use trying to force it."

He stared at her, heart sinking. Then something in her firmly resolved face flinched slightly, and she looked away.

"I'm sorry this had to happen." she said wistfully. "I used to think we were inseparable."

And she left him standing in the middle of the crowded hospital hallway, with nothing but a dull ache he had previously thought himself incapable of feeling.