Author's Note: Finals are finally over! My brain seems to be completely wasted over science subjects. Still getting used to the idea of writing again. Will try to get back to Corrupted by Light as soon as possible! :)

Denial

Hermione woke up, she stretched her body lazily, her chest felt strangely compressed. Must be due to the way I was sleeping.

She cleaned up in the bathroom and headed down to the Great Hall. Upon entrance, the place was eerily quiet. At the teacher's desk, McGonagall and Dumbledore were nowhere to be seen, even Snape seemed to be spacing out.

Hermione walked to where Harry and Ron usually sat, but Harry wasn't there. Hermione smiled brightly at Ron.

"Hi, Ron! Where's Harry?" The red head glanced up at her, startled, Hermione noted that he looked horrible.

Beard stubs were prominent on his chin. Blood shot eyes peered at her from under a head full of red hair which could be easily mistaken for bird's nest.

Ron seemed to space out as he studied her without answering her question.

"Harry-" Further down the table, a voice began hesitantly.

Hermione followed the source of the voice, her gaze landed and froze on Neville, who didn't look any better in comparison. The boy was just as unkempt, bruise-like circles hung under his eyes. It looked like he hasn't slept for days.

"He'll be down in a minute." Ron finished quickly. He gave Neville a pointed look and offered her a weary smile; his face pale.

Hermione sat down. The hall was practically silent. The students were not eating. Instead, they looked down at their laps, even the Slytherins were oddly subdued.

Ignoring those around her, Hermione dined. The clanking of her knife and fork echoed loudly in the hall, a few pairs of eyes landed on her, but other than that, it was as if Hermione was the only living thing in the large space.

She stuffed her face with food, and even offered Ron some, but the red head just shook his head, which was shocking considering how Ron seems to practically worship the act of eating despite what the situation was.

The students sat in silence, eventually, the first bell rang and people began to file out of the Great Hall. Again, they did it as silently as they could, nobody talked, they shuffled out the door softly.

The rest of the day went by like any other normal day, except the students never whispered a single thing in class and the professors went through their lecture monotonously.

Harry never showed up.

Whenever Hermione questioned, Ron simply told her with a tired half smile that Harry was stuck in the washroom because he ate something bad last night. The corner of his lip trembled every time he mentioned the name of his best mate.

Ron had kept up his sullen demeanor throughout the day.