Author's Note: I know I haven't updated in a while, I'm sorry :( I know that this chapter is ridiculously short, but I PROMISE that the next one will be up soon.

Ron's breathing quickened as he ran towards the body. The girl could almost be classified as unrecognisable. Her eyes were closed and swollen, with dark bags underneath them. Ron dropped his wand and fell beside her, devastating sobs racking his body. He gathered her up into his arms and rocked her lifeless body back and forth.

"Wha... What have I done? Hermione!" he choked. "I love you Hermione, don't leave me, please! I'm sorry... I'm sorry" He dropped the body and began to rip out his hair, shaking and crying desperately. It was as though there was a sudden grey mist all around him. A mist that wouldn't rise. It was a state of depression that he couldn't see himself through. There was a terrible weight in his chest, were his heart was supposed to be. It felt as though there was a giant stone lodged in his throat as he screamed some more. He couldn't straighten himself up, or even remember how to breathe entirely. Ron pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes until he saw nothing but sparkles. He tried to sit down, but it was more like a stumble and fall that left him in a trembling.

Suddenly, he was interrupted by footsteps rapidly approaching. It was Harry. He was standing still, not moving. He was as stunned as Ron was. He didn't understand, as if his brain short-circuited and needed to be rebooted. Around him, everything was in fast-forward while he was motionless in the middle of it all. How could this happen? Then he ran towards them at full speed.

Harry placed an arm on Ron's shoulder. "It isn't her Ron!" But he didn't seem to hear him.

"I can't lose her Harry. Not her. Anyone but her. I never even told her-"

Harry could see that Ron wasn't thinking straight, and that no amount of reasoning would help him to see what was really happening, so he got out his wand.

Suddenly Harry yelled out. "RIDDIKULUS!"

Hermione disappeared from Ron's arms and Harry's knees gave out and he slid down the back of the library wall. Ron stayed kneeling down on the ground, his head in his hands, struggling to comprehend what had just happened.


Hermione was just walking back to her dorm when her mind was interfered with thoughts of the last conversation with Ron. That night, she hadn't slept at all, just waited, tossing and turning in her bed. She played over the conversation in her head, again and again. It's not fair, her mind told her, and she wondered whether Ron was feel as upset as she was over their fight. She hated arguing with him and they had enough witty banter over the last seven years to last a lifetime, but she would rather argue with him all day than not talk to him at all.

But lately, Hermione felt that rather than making her boil up with rage on a daily basis, he seemed to be able to heat up her insides, just by looking at her. He made her feel exposed, the way he gazed into her eyes, as though she had nothing to hide behind. And it made her legs turn to jelly when he smiled at her. Just thinking about that warm, gorgeous smile was enough for anyone to go weak at the knees...

She suddenly felt the need to walk right up to Ronald Weasley and slap his face so hard that he wouldn't know what hit him, but calming down, she decided against that idea. How could he do this to her? How could he just occupy her brain and turn it to mush? I'm done with this. If he felt the same way... If I ever made him feel the way he makes me feel, then he would have done something by now. I kissed him and he didn't do anything. What more confirmation do I need?

Hermione got to her dorm and lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She needed to think of something to do to keep her mind off certain gorgeously handsome red-headed boys. But that was just it. She had nothing to do. Madame Pomfrey was taking care of the people who were injured, and wouldn't allow her to even ask to help. Arthur and Molly were grieving with the rest of their family, and she suspected that now was one of those rare moments when even Hermione and Harry should allow the Weasley family some alone time.

Her parents were still in Australia. Perhaps she could get them back, now that Voldemort was gone, along with any signs of near-death experiences. Maybe it was time to put all of this behind her. Harry and Ron needed her, as a friend, to comfort them through these hard times, and she needed them to protect her. Maybe now that this was all over, they didn't need each other anymore.

Hermione's depressing thoughts were interrupted by the sound of rushed footsteps, breaking the eerily quiet silence. She turned around quickly to find the one person she had tried most to not think about.

Ron.