A/N - Special thanks to the lovely readers who have added this story to their alerts and to their favourites! You're all lovely - and happy reading!


Here we go round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush.
Here we go round the mulberry bush
On a cold and frosty morning.
~ Nineteenth-Century English Nursery Rhyme
Adapted by T.S. Eliot in "The Hollow Men"


The four boys stood, shocked and silent as Professor Flitwick looked sadly at the young woman. 'She'll be back to high-dose Calming Draughts every day then, I'm guessing, Minerva?'

'Unless she calms herself. Or gets past this. Or whatever it takes.'

'Professor?' James Potter felt small, smaller than he had ever felt in his life, and he didn't like it. It curdled his blood and he felt a constant nausea circle his throat. 'It can't be that bad, what she read. Can it?'

Frank glared at him bodily, an are you kidding? expression covering his otherwise soft features. 'Hell, Potter, yes. Remember, Black?'

Sirius frowned for a moment but froze as Regulus swallowed, shaking his head and turning white. 'I can't, Longbottom. I don't want to think about it. Narcissa's graphics are more than enough for me.'

A stern gaze turned on him and the boy shuddered, a faint green tinge moving up from his neck as he swallowed thickly. The professor softened and looked at him carefully. 'Catharsis, Mister Black, if you need it. It truly is a helpful tool.'

Nodding, the young boy looked up at the formidable professor. 'She was the girl who landed in the Great Hall with Dumbledore last year. I know you lot saw – Severus told me about it months ago.'

'Headmaster Dumbledore, Mister Black.'

The young boy bobbed his head in pardon and Professor McGonagall looked at him carefully. She might have spoken, had James' voice not wavered towards her, weak and thin. 'That girl was Jean? I thought – we were all so sure that she'd died. There was so much blood.'

Professor McGonagall nodded once, curtly, and kept her eyes firmly on Regulus, as if incapable of dealing with the three other boys' weak astonishment. 'If you ever need someone to listen, Mister Black, you know where my office is. I can't imagine Mister Snape being at all helpful in that regard, especially as wary of cathartic action as he is.' She turned to the other three boys and paused for a long moment before continuing, 'Given that, and no, that was not the Death Eater attack that killed her parents, what she discovered last night is something out of her deepest nightmare. Take the worst possible scenario you can imagine given what you know and what you've seen, and then make this infinitely worse. That is the reality that Miss Granger is living in.'

'Professor,' Regulus ventured, looking small and young and Sirius wanted desperately to reach out and grasp his wrist. 'Has anyone told Severus? He'll blame himself for this, you know. It won't be good for him.'

Flinching internally, Sirius watched as the Head Boy grabbed his brother's wrists tightly exactly as Sirius had so longed to do, nodding solemnly and holding on as Regulus grasped for contact in return. The younger boy's eyes were fixated on Flitwick and McGonagall, his foundation resting, for the moment, on Frank's strong grip.

'No. If he hasn't already been informed, then Mister Snape will not be informed, not by either of us, at least,' Flickwick spoke, his voice firm and unyielding. 'He has a vested, if complicated, interest in the whole situation and I will not have his state jeopardised at this point. Dealing with Miss Granger will be enough of a challenge.'

'I'm always a challenge, you know. Back when he was the Greasy Git, his favourite term for me was insufferable know-it-all. Auntie, how many will I have to take now?'

'You'll be back on four a day – no arguments young lady – until both Professor Flitwick and I decide otherwise. And the boys will be leaving, without disclosing what's happened here.'

'Can they stay, Auntie? If I close my eyes, I can pretend it's like before.'

The woman softened and caught herself as she reached out for the young woman. Steeling herself, she shook her head. 'That isn't healthy, you know.'

'I don't care. I want comfort, not reason. I've always been the reason, I don't need it from them. Oh God.' She bolted upright, eyes snapping open with unadulterated terror as she stared at the two professors. 'You won't tell Dumbledore, will you? I've destroyed everything, I'm a liability, he won't want me anymore. Liabilities ought to be done away with. Neutralised. Let me help, please, dear God, let me do something good for once before you fix things.'

Flitwick's jaw tightened and he shook his head fiercely as his long-time colleague dropped onto the bed, staring at the girl in shock. 'Never. Do you understand me, young lady? Neither Professor Flitwick nor I would ever disclose any information – regardless of the circumstances – that would cause you to come to harm. Not. On. My. Watch. Do you understand?'

'Auntie? Can I come stay with you for the next few nights?'

Minerva McGonagall nodded once, shortly, and walked out of the room abruptly. Turning, the small charms professor looked at his student sadly. 'And remember, Miss Granger, that your aunt is not the only one who has a vested interest in your recovery. At the very least, Professor Slughorn would be seriously disappointed that such a promising connection slipped through his grasp.'

Watching the professor leave the Hospital Wing, Hermione's eyes closed tightly and she tilted her head towards the boys. 'You don't mind staying here with me?'

She referred to herself as though she was the most disgusting of creatures, Sirius noted with a pang. Not caring that just a month prior he had scoffed at the mere mention of this girl, he threw himself beside her and wrapped his arms tightly around her. Holding her tightly, she clung to him in a manner familiar enough to make him frown. He sat there, silent and strong, rocking her as she sobbed herself back into slumber. When she finally stopped shaking he looked up at the four other boys with haunted eyes. 'What happened to her?'

There was a long, heavy silence, Frank and Regulus eyeing each other uncertainly as their gazes flickered between each other and the trio before them. Shrugging, Regulus sat on the chair beside the bed, 'So far the only people she's actually told are Narcissa, Severus and Professor McGonagall. And I don't think she's told Narcissa or Severus all that much, to be honest.'

'Your Narcissa? As in the one who married that Malfoy last Christmas?'

Regulus shrugged in idle agreement and Remus looked at James oddly as he replied, 'I dunno. I mean, I like her and I trust her. I have to, really. But it makes me uneasy, that she distrusts Dumbledore so much.'

'It shouldn't.' James snapped harshly and then winced, shooting his friend an apologetic look. 'I mean, last night we were watching her and Snape under the cloak and what she said about Dumbledore. She respects him and she listens to him and she never says a bad word against him. If I'd been through what Dumbledore's put her through, though, I don't think I'd even be half as good. Not even close.'

Sirius hissed as she shifted, stiffening as she mewled. 'S'rry Padfoo'. Ginny kicks.'

Three of the boys went white as Frank and Regulus frowned. 'That made no sense at all. And how does she know your old nickname?'

'You don't want to know.'

Five heads snapped up and straightened as Severus Snape darkened the doorway. Pausing, he strode over to the edge of the bed, stroking her hair and pressing a kiss to her hair. He face was intense, his eyes heavy and hooded and he stepped back roughly, eyes glossing over Regulus for a brief moment. 'Narcissa told me on her way out. If you're going to watch her, Black, you'd damn well best watch her carefully. It'd be too damn easy to break her, even for you.'

He practically spat the last word and Sirius began to snarl a response. James jumped in, glaring at his best friend and watching the other boy carefully. 'Who was the she that you and Jean were talking about last night?'

Severus Snape aged about twenty years with that question, looking tired and old and worn in a way that dried the throats of the five boys. Looking utterly stunned for a small eternity, he didn't even notice Frank stand jerkily, hand reaching to grasp his shoulder. Shaking his head slowly, Severus looked at his former nemesis carefully. 'You don't want the answer to that question, Potter, even less than I want to give it to you.'

Pressing his hand to her hair again, just the once, the thin young man slid out of the room, stopping at the doorframe to turn and stare them down, sparing a small nod in Frank's direction. 'Watch her. And take care of her. Because someone needs to, and I won't be any good for it soon.'

'Will Jeanie accept that, Severus?'

Severus shrugged. 'She understands it better than I do, Longbottom. It was her idea, after all.'

As he left the four boys stared at the girl lying limp in Sirius' arms, wondering just what kind of Pandora's Box they'd stepped into.


A/N - Hope you enjoyed it! And, as always, reviews are always loved! xx