Thank you to the beta of this chapter- Born-of-Elven-Blood

Chapter Twenty One- Two Friends Come Together

Hermione and Ron sat side-by-side atop the Astronomy Tower, having shamelessly decided that skipping class was the only reasonable course of action. Hermione didn't even care what she might be missing; she was too upset to worry about lessons or note-taking or the possibility of detention.

"...do you think he meant it?" she asked after nearly an hour of silence between them. "That he would try to… kill himself?" The words were almost too hard to say.

"I don't know," Ron replied softly. "I...I don't want to think about it."

"I know… I can't imagine that the Harry we know would try something like that… but at the same time..."

"He's not the same Harry we knew," Ron finished her thought. "I mean, he'll always be Harry… but going through something like that… it's bound to change a bloke…"

"I just want to make it better… but this can't just get better. There's no spell or potion… there's no book that can fix this." Hermione felt tears welling up in her eyes. "So how do we help?"

"I don't think we can help. Not really. We can be there for Harry, but he's the one that has to do the fighting."

"Why would he even go to see Lockhart?" she demanded hotly. Somehow it was easier to be angry; it masked the helplessness and the pain. "What was he hoping for?"

"Closure, perhaps?" Ron replied after a moment's thought. "Maybe it's like when you go and visit someone's grave? He was looking for closure."

"Harry didn't have a loved one die! He was… it was stupid idea!" she yelled. Wild little sparks of stray magic popped and sizzles in the air around her. Ron remained wisely silent, letting her work through her emotions.

"...I expect mom will be coming to Hogwarts once she reads the paper," he said at length, trying to ease the tension. His mom thought of Harry as one of her sons, just as he thought of Harry as a brother. There wasn't a chance in hell she'd stay away. "I expect Sirius will as well." A morbid thought occurred to him. "...do… do you think You-Know-Who reads the papers?"

Hermione snorted indelicately at the thought of Voldermort sitting down with a cup of coffee, reading the morning paper. "I honestly don't know."

They lapsed into a comfortable, if melancholy silence, absorbed in their own thoughts until Ron chanced to glance down at the grounds. A disgusted expression flicked across his face.

"Look at him down there," he muttered under his breath. "I bet he's loving this."

Hermione peered over the edge of the tower to see Malfoy and his two goons traipsing across the lawn towards the greenhouses on their way to Herbology. "Probably so." Her nose scrunched up as though she smelled something foul. "But what can he do to make this worse?"

"I wouldn't put it past him to think of something," Ron muttered.

"As long as Harry is safe in Professor Snape's chambers, Malfoy can't get to him." And Harry won't be able to try anything dangerous, Hermione thought to herself.

"I still don't like the fact that he knows...that anyone knows. This shouldn't have happened." Ron clenched his fists, indulging in his own anger. "Healers take an oath that magically binds them from talking about stuff like that!"

"Perhaps it wasn't a Healer that let out the information..." Hermione suggested, then shrugged. "It doesn't matter anymore, it's done."

Ron only nodded in silence. It was true, it wasn't like the papers could take it back. "So what can we do...?"

"It's just like you said," Hermione sighed, worrying at the sleeve of her robes. "We be there for Harry."

As she spoke, an owl flew into the tower, landing at her feet with a letter in its beak.

"Who do you suppose that's from?" Ron asked as Hermione took the letter from the owl.

"Hagrid," she answered as she read the messy handwriting. "He wants us to stop by today," she said with a frown.

It didn't take much to figure out why Hagrid wanted to talk to them. They glanced uneasily at each other.

"We can blow it off..." Ron offered.

Hermione shook her head. "We can't do that to Hagrid. Besides, I would much rather be there then in class."

"I never thought I'd hear you say that," Ron joked.

Hermione offered him a small smile, standing and stretching. "Let's go before I change my mind."