Everybody wants to let go
But somebody's gotta to hold on
The whole world's going crazy
But somebody's gottta stay strong
It don't look good for right now
But right now ain't forever
Everybody wants to let go
But somebody's gotta to hold on

Let Go by Kierra Kiki Sheard

"Hello, I'm Hermione's healer. My name is Hannah Chunning. I'm Healer Fanning's assistant. I'm here to explain Hermione's situation to you," the woman said standing in the middle of the waiting room. There weren't many people there. Mainly just the Weasleys. Mr. Weasley stood up.

"What wrong?" he asked.

Hannah glanced around then sighed. "Hermione's seems to be reverting back to her original emotional state. She's not showing many signs now, but she is showing a bit of aggressiveness. She's doing well right now, so we'll just have to see. There is, however, a problem with her sight."

"You mean she can't see?" Molly asked, her voice shaking slightly.

Hannah shook her head, frowning. "Hermione has Giorno cecitê. It's Italian for 'day blindness'," she explained.

"Day blindness? Meaning?" Molly asked worriedly.

Hannah sighed. "Day blindness is basically when you can't see during the day but at night you're completely fine."

"Yeah, I figured that much by the name," Harry grumbled.

Hannah turned to him. "Hermione's case is not any normal case. She can see. She's just colorblind. Hermione can see the color red, but everything else is black. However, at night, she turns into an owl. Everything lights up for her."

"Why is she blind?" Ron asked carefully.

"The poison she was given has done something to her optical nerves. She'll be able to see normally eventually," Hannah reassured them. She was about to leave when Ron hit her with another question.

"The poison made her better?" he asked.

Hannah turned around to face them, biting her lip. "I will not lie to you. That poison is not legal in England. Its main purpose of course is to kill, but in a very painful way. We don't even know what it was, exactly. However, in situations dealing with emotional shutdowns, the poison serves a different purpose. Blaise Zabini knew exactly what he was doing when he gave Hermione the poison. It did make her overcome that hurdle with only that one symptom. You should be grateful Hermione's alive," she said before leaving. Harry looked around then walked off down the hall, looking over the numbered doors until he found the one he was looking for. He opened it to find that the room was in darkness. He was about to take out his wand when a raspy voice stopped him.

"Don't…"

Harry frowned and looked around. "Hermione?" he called.

"I'm here… don't turn on the lights. I can't see with the lights on," she whispered. She sounded drained. Harry felt around until he hit the bed side and then felt around for a chair. Sitting down he found out that the room was in fact slightly lit. There was moonlight passing through the one window in the small room. Once he had grown accustomed to the shortage of light, he could see Hermione sitting up in bed, holding a book. She looked over at him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

Ginny had told him and Ron about what Hermione had said about not wanting to see them. It had hurt. He knew she was afraid of facing the inevitable, but the fact that she just didn't want to see them still cut deep. She had pushed them away for so long that the enormity of their forgiveness was incomprehensible to her.

"I wanted to see how you were," he answered quietly.

Hermione snorted. "I'm guessing they told you I'm having some anger problems," she rasped out.

"Look, Hermione-"

"Don't you 'look, Hermione' me. I'm not eleven. I'm eighteen and…" she trailed off, wiping away the tears that had suddenly formed in her eyes. "You have no reason to forgive me for what I did…"

Harry's heart clenched in his chest, hearing her talk like this. He wanted so much to comfort her. To say that it was ok, but he knew it was a lie. Things were far from ok. With Hermione still in the hospital and Zabini out on the streets, the public was not ok. They wanted to see a show and the press was giving it to them. Hermione was the main focus. Being an of age orphan the Ministry was having trouble going about the arrest of Blaise and then his release. Hermione had managed to get him out of the security center for those awaiting trial, but it had come at a serious consequence on Blaise's part.

He touched her hand. "But I do… Ron does also… Hermione, you did what you thought was best. You shouldn't beat yourself up over that…"

Hermione observed Harry for a moment then turned to look out the window. "You know… even in this light… I can't see if I look directly at the moon…" she whispered.

"The healer says that the blindness will go away eventually," Harry murmured.

Hermione squeezed his hand, looking at him. "Nothing's going to be the same Harry… no matter how much Ron wants it to be the same… when I get out of this hospital… We both know that it will never be the same…"

Harry took her hand in both of his. "Don't say that. Things can still change," he whispered.

Hermione looked at him for a moment then looked out the window. "Do you remember that time… when we used to read fairy tales and wish we could be like them?"

"I didn't know many fairy tales," Harry said.

"But do you remember?" she asked urgently.

Harry nodded. "Yeah… I remember."

"We were so stupid back then. Thinking that all we had to do was slay the dragon and rescue the person in trouble… then you'd fall in love and live happily ever after..." She turned to him. "They forgot to tell you that it didn't work that way in real life… They never told you that you had to sacrifice everything, that the people you loved would die and that falling in love was a dangerous task…"

"Do we still get the happy ending?" Harry asked softly.

Hermione looked at him for a moment then down at their hands and shook her head.

"No… Real heroes don't get happy endings…"


Looking up from his coffee, Blaise surveyed the outdoor café quietly, ignoring the muggle couple a few tables away, embracing each other. He never knew he'd find himself in this position again, asking for her help, but he knew it was the only way. He hadn't seen her since… well since the last time he had done this. The point was, it hadn't ever gotten this complicated.

Then he saw her. She was much prettier than he remembered, but then again, she had always been beautiful. Her hair was different though. Cut short, there were highlights of copper glinting in the summer sun. Her eyes shone brightly when she caught sight of him and she waved slightly, moving over and sitting down across from him where she observed him as he did her. Her normally pale skin was sun-kissed and graced with the occasional freckle.

"I was wondering when I'd hear from Blaise Zabini again," she whispered, waving away the waiter.

He smiled and took another sip from his cup. "Well, I couldn't go this long without saying hello," he said.

She smiled back and looked around. "This was an unusual place to meet. I thought you'd want to pick some place more… familiar," she said pointedly.

Blaise handed her the file he had been given upon his release. She went over it quietly then her eyes grew slightly upon reading the sentence.

"Oh…" she whispered.

"Yeah, oh. I need your help with some stuff," he said.

"Blaise… I'm… I'm not your type. I can't help you with those issues," she hissed.

Blaise rolled his eyes. "I'm not asking you to help me with that stuff… just… when I need you, I have to know that you'll help me," he explained.

The woman bit her lip and then looked away. "The last time I helped you I got hurt, Zabini," she whispered. Her voice had turned cold all of a sudden and the events of the summer after fifth year came to mind.

Blaise shifted around and sighed. "That was almost three years ago," he said.

She turned to him in surprise. "It still hurt," she hissed. "I give you what you want. Names. Locations. Flight plans. And what do I get? A bloody note that doesn't explain a thing," she growled, grabbing her purse and standing up.

Blaise groaned and got up, throwing money on the table and following her out of the café, and into the street. He caught up with her and grabbed her arm. "Will you wait a moment," he hissed.

She stopped and closed her eyes, turning to him. "Why? So I can get betrayed again?"

"I didn't plan to leave… I had to get back to Hogwarts," he said.

"That still doesn't mean you couldn't say goodbye," she whispered before turning to leave.

Blaise watched her go for a moment then smiled. "Hey! Lex!" he called.

The woman stopped and turned. "What?" she snapped.

"It's Hermione Granger!" he said.

Lex stopped for a moment then headed back over to him, grabbing his arm. "What the hell did you do?" she growled.

"I didn't know you knew about her," Blaise said with interest.

Lex rolled her eyes, waving her hand impatiently. "Denham keeps me up to date," she said. She bit her lip then looked down. "Look, Blaise… I'll do it, ok. But that doesn't mean things are the same," she whispered before turning to leave.

"I wouldn't have it any other way…" he said.

She stopped and turned around again. "Why are you doing this again?" she asked.

Blaise paused a moment then stuffed his fist in his pockets, looking around the bustling street corner. "You know why…"

Lex rolled her eyes. "No, I don't. I mean… there are millions of people who would kill to have the type of help you gave that man… and the help you're giving this girl. And I… I've never been able to figure out why you, Blaise Zabini, would want to help a muggleborn," she whispered softly.

Blaise flinched slightly then looked at her. "I have my reasons…"

Lexington Hollaway bit her lip and looked away, shaking her head. "We all have excuses for avoiding the inevitable. For some, it's to avoid confronting their past… for others it's to avoid confronting their future…" she looked at him, her beautiful hazel eyes searching his black ones. She was looking for a reason. For his reason. "But that's not you're excuse… you're trying to make up for something… something bad you did… You're a scared man, Blaise. Always have been, always will be," she whispered. Sighing she hitched up her bag and looked around. "Some day, you're going to have to realize that running away and trying to make up for what you did doesn't make you a man, Blaise. It's facing it and finding forgiveness in God that makes you into what most boys can only dream to be…"

"What's that?" he asked.

She gave him one last glance then started to walk away. "A hero…"

Blaise watched her disappear into the crowds and sighed. "I hate it when she does that," he whispered.

A/N: Ooo! you can sense the sexual tension... or maybe it's just tension. Well, what ever it is, there's some truth to the woman's words.

sballLuvr5: I'd say taht things were going to get better, but knowing me, that would be a lie.

GTKari-123: Well... forever is a bit drastic isn't it? How about a really long time:-P

charma10: Well, I'd hate to do the whole Romeo and Juliet thing and give away the whole plot before the stories started!

alice in reality: Your name makes me laugh.

NairobiDawn: I think it will be a very hard, very long road.

connieewing: I'm glad you liked it.

Chapter Tease:

"You once told me that you loved me…"

"I still do," he murmured.

She froze and bit her lip. "Don't… Don't love me… Hate me…"