Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.
~ Nineteenth Century English Nursery Rhyme

Grabbing his best mate, the duo froze under the movement of invisible fabric and watched as heavy, familiar footsteps approached rapidly. 'Hey! Granger!'

She spun, beaming when she saw him and running back over to him. 'I didn't know which side you'd be coming from, so I've been pacing rather foolishly. Do –'

Yanking her into the empty classroom, the boy rolled his eyes and released her hand as though it had stung him. 'Yell it out for the whole world to hear, Granger. Yeah. I have it.'

Dropping a newspaper on the table beside them, he smirked as she laughed, dancing happily around the empty classroom. Flinging her arms tightly around him, she pressed a kiss to his cheek and laughed as he kissed her lips lightly. 'Don't even try, Severus. You're no less attached than I am.'

'But you said he d–'

Shrugging, she sat on the table beside him and nudged him until he joined her, their legs swinging idly. 'He did. But you on the other hand. She doesn't deserve your affections, you know. She ought to have forgiven you on the spot. Someone that petty and unforgiving doesn't even begin to deserve you.'

It was his turn to shrug. 'I know.'

Leaning forward, she peered up into his face and then broke into a grin. 'You really do, don't you? And yet, you still –'

'You don't love someone for their virtues, but for their faults. I learned something from my parents.'

Laughing delightedly, she hiked her robes up over smooth calves and swung her leg around the table. Shimmying closer to the young man, she rested her chin on his shoulder, 'I think your shoulder's even bonier than my chin, Severus. And I know.'

'You really do, don't you?'

She moved away, leaning back and bracing herself on her arms as she chuckled at his use of her own words. Her left leg kicked his dangling foot as she replied, 'That's something they would have done, use my words against me. You know, I'm never going to see them again, never going to hear them laugh, watch them, feel his arms around me. I'm never going to get to tell them just how much I loved them. How this, hellish as it may be, is worth it a thousand times over if they're happy. I'd die, I'd kill, without a second thought if it meant so much as a moment of their happiness. I'd already given up my parents, after all, without much of a thought to it. And then I see them, royal gits that they are, and I think that this is what they were fighting for. For fucking house rivalries and popularity contests and it makes me sick. And I wish they were here instead of me, because they were always so much stronger than I was. Maybe they could have seen this and been happy.'

'You're happy with Longbottom. And with Selwyn and Pepper and that lot of kids, Jeanie.'

She smiled there, looking at him fondly, 'I really, really am, Severus.'

'Why'd you ask me to help you with this? Why not Dumbledore, he asks after you often enough? Or one of the muggleborns in the other houses?'

Snorting, Jean spun herself around and deposited her head in his lap, squeezing his knee as his hand ran through her fringe idly. 'I wanted discretion, you know. Not my private business trumpeted about the halls for the world to hear. You heard the rumours about my altercation with the Selwyns. Plus, there's no way in hell I'm getting that rat bastard involved in anything in my life unless I absolutely have to.'

'You really can't stand him, can you?'

'Oh, that's rich coming from you. I would be with my best friends, not here, and I would be eighteen and happy if it weren't for his machinations. He was supposed to care about us, you know. I knew all about his favouritism, but you see, we were the favourites, it wasn't supposed to come back to hurt us. Imagine all the anger you feel towards him for not defending you, for preferring the Gryffindors. Now imagine being a Gryffindor, having him favour you and give you private lessons and tell you all sorts of secrets about your family, about his family, to the point where he's practically family. Not practically, where he was family, where he knew more about you and your habits and your dreams and fears and life than your own parents. Imagine that he's the person in this world that you look up to more than anything else, that he's your mentor and teacher and grandfather and protector all in one – and then you find out that it was his every intention for you to die. For you to die in a blaze of flaming glory, that your life meant little enough to him that not only was he willing to bargain with it, to sacrifice it, but that he was willing to do so without even mentioning it to you. That you walked in, convinced he was going to help, with no idea of what you were about to be up against, and everything that mattered to you in the world crumbled to ash because of him. And that he'd planning it all along.'

There was a severity in her voice that imbued her words with a strange sort of power; they shot through her listeners' very souls and the gravity of them was heavy, inescapable. Severus was white, fingers stilled in her hair and he stared down at her with wide eyes. Sitting up, she clasped his hand tightly and pressed it to her chest before bringing it to her lips. 'That's just part of the reason I hate him, Severus. He may be a great man, he may even be a good one, but I cannot look at him and see anything except what he did to my life, to the lives of the two people who I would have died for, who I wanted to die for. I just can't get beyond that. Nor do I particularly want to try. Weakness, maybe, but I'm not a Gryffindor, nobody expects that kind of courage any longer.'

Sirius frowned at the any longer and, after taking one look at James, realised that his best mate had heard it as well. Gentle and soft, Severus Snape reached forward and pressed a gentle, chaste kiss to her lips before pressing another to her forehead. 'It'll be all right, Jeanie. Just take advantage of the favour it gives you with Regulus. Especially after hearing me recount your grand entrance last year.'

'I do wish the boy would just put a sock in it and go talk it all out with his brother. Arse he may be, they're still brothers, you know.'

'I have no lost love for Sirius Black or his little gang, Jeanie. They'd see me dead if they thought they could get away with the attempt a second time. You know that.'

She shrugged, 'Honestly, I don't either. I should, and my Harry would be so upset if he knew I don't, but what they are and what they could be are so far apart that I just look at them and my blood boils. I know you don't want to hear it, Severus, but they've got so much potential. Just look at Remus Lupin – I don't give a rat's arse if you're terrified of him, Severus Snape, and I've known about his lycanthropy since I was younger than when you found out – and look at how much he could be. And what does he do? He lets Sirius and James bully children and run the show because he's grateful. Grateful for what? For two meagre friends that underneath it all still look at him and see werewolf before they see man?'

She stood now, on a full-blown rampage. 'And James Potter. God! He's so much like my Harry, my darling, darling Harry. It would break Harry's heart, shatter it into a thousand pieces, to see James Potter up on his high-horse, ruffling his hair and boasting and spending his time wooing Lily Evans rather than doing anything! So what if he's best friends with Sirius Black? It isn't like he single-handedly saved the boy from becoming a Death Eater! Sirius Black doesn't have it in him, no matter how much like his cousin Bellatrix he may be at times! The worst part is that I can just see Sirius dying, Severus, I can see every time I look at him, laughing and then surprised. Like he's thinking, me, die? What is this? It's no looking glass world that can destroy Sirius Black, and I look at him and I see everything in this world that's going to try and I just want to grab him and shake him and make him wake up and look around. He's already so broken and I just keep thinking that maybe, hopefully, he'll come to his senses and start using the yards of potential bottled up in there.'

'You spare so much worry for them, Jeanie.'

It was quiet, and she beamed, turning to him and flinging her arms around his neck. 'Oh, Severus. I don't need to worry about you, you know. You understand what's out there. You're all about survival. You'll live, you'll live long, you'll be happy – you'll find people who love you and cherish you even during the darkest days of hell – and you'll destroy anything that ever harms a hair on her head. Maybe, if I live long enough, I'll get to congratulate you when this is all over. If I don't, you'll remember that I wanted to, won't you?'

Severus looked stricken, and he nodded slowly. Motioning to the newspaper he'd brought, he stood. Kissing her forehead once more, he left the room, stopping at the doorway. 'Thank you, Jeanie. I'd started to forget what it was like to have a friend through it all.'

She smiled sadly, clutching the newspaper to her chest, and she watched him walk away before opening the newspaper. Flipping toward the back pages, they watched, transfixed as she went white. The word no shaped her lips and her mouth moved soundlessly over and over, the paper crumpling under her clenching fist as she slid off the table. The tears started slowly, turning steadily into full-blown sobs as she clutched the crinkled paper to her and choked off incoherent sentences. Ignoring James' whispered protests and furious cursing, Sirius ran forward. Grasping the girl, he wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair. 'Shhh. Hush now, Jeanie. Shhh, it's okay.'

She lashed out at him, palm smacking against his chest as she crumpled against him. 'It's not okay! It's not! I've messed everything up! Everything's all wrong and it's all my fault!'

There was no doubt in those sobs, he realised. Whatever it was, she was not taking extra guilt upon her shoulders. It really was her, whatever that actually meant, and he rubbed her back, nodding to where James stood, bewildered in the corridor. Lifting her into his arms, Sirius watched James shove his cloak into the pocket of his robes and the two headed toward McGonagall's chambers. The girl was her ward, after all.

James pounded on the door, calling the professor's name and all but sobbing with relief himself as she opened the door, still tying her dressing gown as she glared at the young man. 'What in the name of Mer—Jeanie! Oh, good god, bring her in. Bring her in.' Without hesitating even an instant, Sirius moved into the chambers, setting the sobbing young woman onto the couch and prying his robes from her fingers. 'What is it, Jeanie? Oh, Hermione, dear, talk to me.'

It was a testament to her worry that the stern woman disregarded the presence of the two boys and reverted to the girl's given name. Shoving the crumpled paper at her guardian, she lifted her face and sobbed as tears streamed over her cheeks. 'I've destroyed it, Auntie. I've ruined everything that'll ever happen! I've killed myself! I don't exist anymore, Auntie! I'm not real! I'll never get them back! Oh, Auntie, why do I ruin everything?'

The last question was a choked sob that died into a moan, her face burying into McGonagall's robes as the woman stroked her hair, holding her tightly. Looking up, her voice was clipped, 'Mister Potter. There's a vial of Dreamless Sleep inside the top drawer of the cabinet there. Bring three.'

'Three? But that's –'

'Do as you are told, Mister Potter!'

There was a fury in her voice that neither boy had ever heard before and both of them jumped, James scrambling to hand her the three vials. Tilting Hermione's face up, Minerva McGonagall soothed her as one would sooth a rabid animal, crooning and stroking her hair gently. 'Hermione, dear, drink this. It'll calm you. Everything'll be better in the morning. Shhh, dear, just drink this and we'll fix everything. Come now, dear. Shhh.'

The first one went down with difficulty, Hermione coughing half of the vial back up and the rest bubbling from her lips as she sobbed through it. Minerva McGonagall continued, as though this was not the first time she'd had to ease the girl through such hysterics. And by halfway through the second vial, Hermione coughed and held up a hand, pushing the potion from her mouth as she looked up at her guardian. 'Will you tell Harry and Ron that I'm sorry, Professor? And tell the Headmaster that I'm sorry for being out after curfew, I promise it won't happen again. But Harry and Ron, really, and don't let them worry about me and tell them I'll try to be less of an insufferable know-it-all and that I'd die before failing them? And tell them not to try to sneak out to come see me, because if Snape catches them again he'll be really displeased and –'

'You can tell them all of that yourself in the morning. Now hush and finish this or I'll drag you to the Hospital Wing by your hair, Hermione Jean Granger.'

Accepting the rest of the potion, Hermione Jean Granger wrapped both arms around the professor's waist, nodding into the folds of her dressing gown. 'I won't let them hurt you again this time. I promise I won't.'

Patting the girl's head lightly, Minerva McGonagall detached herself from the prone form and promptly stuck her head in the fireplace, stepping back as a grumpy-looking Slughorn peered in. 'What, Minerva? I was just about to get into – Oh, what did the boys do –'

'Not the boys this time, Horace. Miss Granger.'

Slughorn caught sight of the crumpled figure and winced. Evidently he was more or less familiar with this as well, and he shook his head sadly. 'How much do you think?'

'I'd say at least double the daily doses for the next week or two. And she was doing so much better.'

Head bobbing in the fireplace, Slughorn looked sorrowfully at the girl. 'She's a good, strong girl, Minerva, she'll be fine in the end. I'll get started on a new batch early in the morning, I'll wake myself a good couple hours early to do it. And I'll owl Narcissa first thing in the morning, that way it'll be in Wiltshire by morning tea if not by breakfast. Have you told Filius yet?'

'I'll tell him in the morning. The boys can help me get her up to the Hospital Wing. And just let her through once she responds, I'll deal with Albus if he has anything to say about it.'

Slughorn nodded curtly and sighed. 'Well, good night Minerva. Did you give her three vials this time? Good, hopefully she'll make it through till morning.'

He was gone abruptly and Minerva McGonagall turned to the stunned, mortified and utterly lost pair of boys. 'All right. Three things. One. You will not tell anyone what has transpired here tonight. Not your friends, not your journals, not your parents, not the Headmaster, not even each other. No one. Is that understood?' She paused, staring them down and they nodded mutely. There were times to mess with the Head of Gryffindor. Now was so very not one of them that even thinking of a smart comment was inconceivable to either boy. 'Two. You will not mention any of what you have seen to Miss Granger. If she chooses to provide you with the information, you are permitted to acknowledge it, but you are never to mention it to her or to another soul. Three. You will help me bring her to the Hospital Wing. Immediately.'