Fading Away
Hermione hasn't been hanging around with Harry and Ron much lately.
She's made some new friends at the library; they're all intelligent and love to read.
Just like her.
She misses Harry and Ron, of course, and she sometimes goes and talks to them. But it just isn't the same, they're not like her new friends.
They don't have anything in common any more.
She sees her former companions less and less, and soon she only ever talks to them in the common room when they need help with their assignments.
Not that she's in many of the same classes any more.
Soon, even conversations in the common room cease. She's much too busy with her new friends.
They don't even spare each other passing glances in the corridor.
Sometimes, when she sees them, she wonders...
What would it be like?
If I hadn't left...
What would have happened...?
And now she'll never know.