Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Life was finally starting to get easier for Hermione, and she was all too aware of Luna's role in this. The distraction she'd provided at lunch was simply brilliant, and Ginny didn't even seem upset about it. Actually, Ginny seemed relieved that their relationship was no longer a secret. Hermione wondered how anyone could possibly not be fond of Luna.

She supposed it had something to do with the girl's bluntness, or her eerie ability to pick up on just what someone was trying to hide, or maybe that her head was always in the clouds… But Hermione was growing to like these things about her. Luna was painfully perceptive, but she kept her discoveries to herself.

Severus was becoming constantly more aware of Hermione, but in a different way. The girl finally seemed to be getting stronger, to be attacking life with some of the passion that had come so easily to her in the past. And as she gained weight back at a painstakingly slow pace, his thoughts about her grew even more… disturbing.

Hermione was so engrossed in conversation with Ron and Harry as they left Potions that day that Professor Snape had to address her twice to get her attention.

"Miss Granger!" He barked, finally putting a stop to their animated conversation.

Hermione gave him a puzzled look.

For a moment, his head spun. Had she forgotten everything that had grown between them? What if it really was just her illness that made her desperate for the closeness she sought with him? The notion was shockingly painful.

Still, he pressed on. "I was hoping you might assist me with a potion tonight after dinner. I could use an extra set of hands." He wanted to laugh at his overly casual approach, but she quickly agreed.

Harry and Ron looked puzzled, but she quickly launched into a discussion of the impact academic work performed outside of class could have upon ones future. They were bored enough by her little speech that they didn't bring it up again.

That was when it occurred to her. She had been handling things wrong the whole time. Instead of pushing them away when they probed too deeply, all she had to do was shift the direction of the conversation to something that would provoke a swift retreat. Quite simply, instead of pulling away from them when they pushed too hard, she had to encourage them to pull away from her. The awkward conversation could be ended without deepening the rift between them.

Hermione was more than a little surprised when Harry invited her to go for a walk on the grounds before dinner, especially since Ron was busy studying for an Herbology quiz. Still, she was strangely flattered by the attention, and the snow-covered grounds were surprisingly warm for the time of year.

They walked in silence for a while, and when he finally spoke, it was in a calm, but serious voice.

"Hermione, if you're ready to talk about it, I'd like to know what happened."

She didn't have to ask what he meant by that. He wanted to know why she had stopped eating, why one of his best friends had been wasting away before his eyes and there was no easy way to stop it. She wasn't sure what to say, but she felt that after everything they'd been through together, she owed him an explanation.

"I don't... I don't really know where to start, Harry."

"Start at the beginning. Why did you do this?"

"If I knew why, it would be much easier for me to heal. It just sort of… happened."

Harry looked a little frustrated, but his tone stayed calm. "When did it start?"

"I guess it started at the end of summer… that night we went out drinking."

Harry looked as though he'd just been slapped in the face. "That bloke… out behind the bar… I did stop him in time, didn't I?"

"Yes!" she flushed, "it was nothing like that."

"Then what was it?"

"Are you really sure you want to know?"

"Hermione, I want to know everything." The sincerity burning in his bright jade eyes made her stomach flip inside her body.

"Well, I guess I started thinking before we even went out… My jeans were a little snug."

Harry couldn't help but laugh.

"What?" Hermione felt instantly defensive.

"Honestly?"

"Just tell me, Harry."

"Those jeans drove me mad. If only you knew how they made your bum look… Poor Ron's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets the first time you turned your back!"

"What? You and Ron said I hardly even count as a girl to you!"

"Well, you didn't before, but things change, Hermione."

He took her hand, and his warm fingers felt good wrapped around hers.

Hermione blushed. "Anyway, then when we were on the train, all you could talk about were other girls, and what was I supposed to think?"

Harry looked a bit abashed. "Sorry. Raging hormones. It's kind of where our minds were, and it's not like we were going to say anything about you with you sitting right there."

Well, she guessed that made sense.

The sun was sinking low against the lake, throwing fiery reds and oranges over the grounds. The crisp winter air bit into her cheeks, and she could feel them growing pinker by the moment.

"Wow," she said, "it's getting cold out."

"Do you want to go inside?"

"No, not yet."

Harry wrapped an arm around her. "Don't want you to freeze." He smiled at her. His smile made her feel so vulnerable. Everyone wanted to get close to him, to get inside the mind of the "Boy Who Lived", yet for some unfathomable reason he had chosen her to stand by his side through everything life threw at him. Maybe, Hermione mused, he saw something in her that she didn't. Maybe she was stronger than she thought.

And she wanted to be strong for him. He was everyone's last hope, after all. And he had chosen her, for reasons she could never understand.

Harry looked at her, and she felt naked under his searching gaze, until he finally spoke.

"So then what happened?"

"Well…" She didn't want to talk about it, but after all he'd been through, Harry deserved the truth. If anyone could handle it, she thought, he could.

"I was careful at the start of term feast. I just wanted my pants to be a bit less snug, I think. But I ate a little less at every meal, until eating was a weakness to me, something I wanted to avoid at all costs. And every day I got weaker, but the worst part was that every time I looked in the mirror, my loose skin mimicked fat and I felt as though I had failed."

Harry stopped, and stared into her eyes. She could tell he was on the verge of tears. Then he threw his arms around her, and his tight embrace felt so warm and so safe, she could do nothing but lean in and let him hold her. She wished she had realized a long time ago how compassionate he could be, even with someone who was losing her bloody mind…

Hermione wasn't sure, but she thought she felt his lips ghosting across her cheek as he pulled away. He smiled at her.

"We'd better get to dinner." He said, "I don't think there's much chance Ron's going to wait for us if we're late."

"Oh," Hermione laughed, "he'll eat for the whole hour if he can."

Their conversation was lighter as they walked back to the castle, but when they reached the entrance, Harry had one more question to ask Hermione.

"So, that thing with Ginny and Luna… Is it real, or was it just a diversion to keep Ron from going mental on you over those cuts?"

"Well," Hermione admitted, "they did save my ass, there's no denying that. But there's definitely something going on between those two. I think Ginny's crush on you has officially bit it."

Harry sighed with relief, and they entered the Great Hall together. Before they sat down, he caught her arm, and leaned in close to whisper in her ear,

"Hermione, I know you hurt yourself, in more ways than one. If you ever need someone to talk to, you know that I'm here for you, right?"

She beamed and nodded, and they took their seats at the table.

If Ron knew something important had transpired between Hermione and Harry, he hid it masterfully. He stuffed food in his mouth, and talked about Quidditch like he always did, and for a while things felt almost normal.

Dinner went by faster than any meal Hermione had eaten in a long time, and she had barely banished any of the food that went into her mouth. She felt uncomfortable, but oddly confident as she approached the dungeons. She knocked twice on the Potion Master's door, and his voice responded, clear and emotionless,

"Enter."

She moved into the room slowly, and was surprised to find that he was brewing nothing.

"Professor, did you need assistance with something?"

He chuckled. "Hermione, I was hoping that for tonight, we could just talk."

And so she followed him to his private quarters, stomach full of butterflies, wondering what could possibly happen next.

They sat on opposite ends of his sofa in front of a roaring fire, and his onyx eyes blazed into hers.

"How are you?" He asked, and the sincerity in his voice tugged at something inside her.

"I'm… better, actually. I've been trying to take care of myself the way I should."

"You look better." He murmured. His eyes were on fire, travelling slowly over her body so intensely she writhed as if being caressed.

She smiled, shyly, and he fought hard not to ask about Potter, about where they had vanished to before dinner. It would be highly inappropriate for her teacher to be concerned about her love life. He had no right to stake any sort of claim on her, and he knew it. If she could be happy with Harry, he had to let her go, because he loved her enough to want a healthy life for her.

Still, a part of him wrenched in agony when he thought of the one other woman he had ever had feelings like this for.

His dreams that night were haunted by images of Lily, of James pulling her from Severus' desperate embrace. The scene played again and again in his mind, until he realized that, at some point, James had become Harry and it was no longer Lily being torn from Severus' arms…