One of the most difficult things you could ever do is stand up to the person you love. It makes you feel as if you've broken their trust. It makes you feel as if you've betrayed them. And when look at them, their eyes seem so foreign to you. They seem so far away.

But you hold your ground. No matter how much it hurts, you hold your ground. Because you want and need to protect them. And if there's even the slightest chance that they could be in danger, you have to let them know.

No matter how much they don't want to hear it. No matter how much it hurts.

Hermione had nearly completed her History of Magic exam, leaving plenty of time to review all her answers thoroughly, when a loud yell broke out in the hall.

Her head whipped around just in time to see Harry fall sideways off his desk onto the stone floor. He hit the ground, still yelling, as the entire Great Hall erupted with frantic murmurs.

But before Hermione could even register what was happening, Professor Tofty had rushed over to Harry's side and carefully helped him out into the entrance hall.

Hermione caught Ron's eyes across the Great Hall, and he shrugged at her, a worried expression on his face that she knew mirrored her own at that moment.

About five minutes later, Professor Tofty returned, announcing to the hall at large that Harry was indeed okay. "Pressure of examinations, is all!" he stated. "Now everyone back to your papers, please. You have approximately fifteen minutes left!"

But Hermione knew this excuse was absurd. The likelihood of Harry passing out from the stress of examinations was about as miniscule as that of Neville someday going on to play professional Quidditch.

No, Harry had had another nightmare. Even after she warned him countless times that this was dangerous. Even after she practically begged him to ask Snape to continue Occlumency lessons. Even after he told her he'd stopped having these dreams.

But he'd lied to her. And that knowledge cut through Hermione like a knife.

After they had finally been dismissed from the Great Hall, Hermione rushed over to Ron. "We have to go find Harry," she said hurriedly.

"Do you think he's in the hospital wing?" Ron asked.

"I don't know, let's go check."

Just as they stepped out into the entrance hall, however, they spotted him at the top of the marble staircase.

"Harry!" said Hermione at once. "What happened? Are you all right? Are you ill?"

"Where have you been?" demanded Ron.

"Come with me," Harry said quickly. "Come on, I've got to tell you something..."

From the look on Harry's face, Hermione knew that something was not right, and she grew more worried with every step they took.

Harry led them into an empty classroom, slamming the door behind him and turning around to face them.

"Voldemort's got Sirius."

"What?"

"How d'you—?"

"Saw it. Just now. When I fell asleep in the exam."

Hermione instantly felt her blood turn cold. A thousand different thoughts seemed to run wild in her mind as Harry explained his dream to them.

His dream. The ones he isn't supposed to be having. The ones Voldemort may very well know about...

"How're we going to get there?" Harry asked them.

"G-get there?" said Ron.

"Get to the Department of Mysteries, so we can rescue Sirius!" Harry said loudly.

No no no no no! Hermione's mind practically screamed. This is wrong, this is all wrong! How could Voldemort even get into the Ministry of Magic? How could he get a hold of Sirius? Is this all a trap? It has to be a trap, doesn't it?

A number of jumbled memories flooded into Hermione's vision, blinding her mind's eye and ringing deafeningly in her ears.

We've taken what you'll sorely miss.

"There you go, Harry!" Ron shouted over the noise. "You weren't being thick at all—you were showing moral fibre!"

"...Sirius is the only family I have left..."

"...Voldemort's got Sirius..."

"...you were showing moral fibre..."

"Harry, you prat," said Ron, "you didn't take that song thing seriously, did you? Dumbledore wouldn't have let any of us drown!"

"I hope you didn't waste your time down there acting the hero!"

We've taken what you'll sorely miss...

"You know what, I've just thought of something," said Ron's voice, cutting into Hermione's rapidly playing thoughts. "Sirius's brother was a Death Eater, wasn't he? Maybe he told Sirius the secret of how to get the weapon!"

"Yeah—and that's why Dumbledore's been so keen to keep Sirius locked up all the time!" said Harry.

Hermione's heart was beating faster now. Ron was agreeing with Harry. She hated it when they sided against her like this. She hated it when they both looked at her like everything was her fault. She was just trying to prevent Harry from doing anything dangerous. Didn't he know that?

"Look, I'm sorry," she cried, "but neither of you are making sense, and we've got no proof for any of this, no proof Voldemort and Sirius are even there—"

"Hermione, Harry's seen them!" said Ron, rounding on her.

Hermione looked over at Harry. She could practically feel the anger and impatience emanating off of him, and she wished so desperately that she did not have to say what she was about to say.

He was going to hate her. She just knew it.

But she had to do it. She had to try and make him understand that this could all be a trap.

"Okay," Hermione said, frightened yet determined, "I've just got to say this..."

"What?"

Hermione gathered up all the courage she had as Harry's eyes bored straight into hers.

"You...This isn't a criticism, Harry! But you do...sort of...I mean—don't you think you've got a bit of a—a—saving-people-thing?"

He glared at her. "And what's that supposed to mean, a 'saving-people-thing'?"

"Well...you..." She felt more apprehensive than ever. "I mean...last year, for instance...in the lake...during the Tournament...you shouldn't have...I mean you didn't need to save that little Delacour girl...You got a bit...carried away..."

Hermione could see a spark of anger flash before Harry's eyes.

"...I mean, it was really great of you and everything," she said quickly, feeling positively petrified at the look on his face. "Everyone thought it was a wonderful thing to do—"

"That's funny," said Harry through gritted teeth, "because I definitely remember Ron saying I'd wasted time acting the hero...is that what you think this is? You reckon I want to act the hero again?"

She felt a sickening lurch inside her stomach. How could he possibly think that?

"No, no, no!" she said, aghast. "That's not what I mean at all!"

"Well spit out what you've got to say, because we're wasting time here!" Harry shouted.

It took all Hermione had to explain to Harry exactly what she meant. How Voldemort knew that Harry was the type of person to run to Sirius's aid. How he most likely just wanted to get Harry to the Department of Mysteries. How Harry's dream could have been just that: a dream. How he should have never seen all this in the first place.

"IF YOU THINK I'M JUST GOING TO ACT LIKE I HAVEN'T SEEN—"

"Sirius told you there was nothing more important than you learning to close your mind!" She said, her voice filled with emotion as she desperately tried to hold back the tears she felt stinging her eyes.

"WELL, I EXPECT HE'D SAY SOMETHING DIFFERENT IF HE KNEW WHAT I'D JUST—"

But before Harry could finish his sentence, the classroom door opened revealing a curious looking Ginny, followed closely by Luna.

"Hi," said Ginny uncertainly. "We recognized Harry's voice—what are you yelling about?"

"Never you mind," said Harry roughly.

Ginny raised her eyebrows. "There's no need to take that tone with me," she said coolly. "I was only wondering whether I could help."

"Well you can't," said Harry shortly.

Hermione flinched slightly at his harsh tone. She just couldn't seem to convince Harry of anything at the moment. What she needed was proof. She needed to prove to Harry that Sirius was safe at Grimmauld Place.

"Wait," she said suddenly. "Wait...Harry, they can help."

Harry and Ron looked at her.

"Listen," she said urgently, "Harry, we need to establish whether Sirius really has left Headquarters—"

"I've told you, I saw—"

"Harry, I'm begging you, please!"

Her voice cracked slightly, but she looked straight into Harry's eyes, pleading with him.

"Please," she continued, "let's just check that Sirius isn't at home before we go charging off to London—if we find out he's not there then I swear I won't try and stop you, I'll come, I'll d-do whatever it takes to try and save him—"

"Sirius is being tortured NOW!" shouted Harry. "We haven't got time to waste—"

"But if this is a trick of V-Voldermort's—Harry, we've got to check, we've got to—"

"How?" Harry demanded. "How're we going to check?"

There was only one way they could check. Only one fireplace in the entire castle that wasn't being watched.

About ten minutes later, Harry and Hermione were hidden under the Invisibility Cloak on their way to Umbridge's office for what Hermione felt was a suicide attempt.

Once in the office, they immediately pulled off the cloak. Hermione hurried over to the window, peering down into the grounds with her wand out while Harry dashed over to the fireplace.

She waited, listening for the warning signal (a loud chorus of 'Weasley Is Our King') as if her life depended on it. Which, in some ways, it did.

She wished she could know what was going on with Harry at the moment, and silently prayed that he would find Sirius lazing away at the kitchen table, reading the paper and drinking a cup of coffee.

Harry had only been in the fire for about three minutes, however, when the office door banged open.

Hermione felt her breath catch in her throat as she saw Umbridge clamber in, her eyes wide with menace, followed by Malfoy and Millicent Bulstrode. Umbridge spotted Hermione at once and looked at her strangely for a moment before her gaze landed on Harry whose head was still in the fireplace.

The sickeningly malicious smile that spread across Umbridge's face made Hermione want to vomit.

"Miss Bulstrode," Umbridge ordered. "Kindly restrain Miss Granger."

Before Hermione could raise any sort of objection, she was pushed back against the wall rather painfully and held there by Millicent.

"Shall I grab Potter, Professor?" Malfoy asked with a gleam in his eye.

"No, no, Mr. Malfoy," Umbridge stated. "I'll take care of Potter."

Hermione wanted to scream out to Harry, to warn him, but what could he do now? What could any of them do now? They were trapped and it was all her fault.

She watched in horror as Umbridge grabbed a patch of Harry's hair and pulled him roughly out of the fireplace, causing him to choke on a mouthful of ash.

She continued dragging him backward by the hair and was now bending his neck back as far as it would go as though she was going to slit his throat.

Hermione fought as hard as she could against Millicent's hold, but she simply was no match for the large girl.

"You think," Umbridge whispered to Harry, bending his neck back even farther, "that after two nifflers I was going to let one more foul, scavenging little creature enter my office without my knowledge? Take his wand," she barked at Malfoy. "Hers too..."

Hermione held onto her wand with all the strength she could muster, but as Millicent wrapped her hand tightly around both her wrists, Hermione was forced to let go.

She felt absolutely defenceless without her wand as she stood there, still trapped against the wall.

"I want to know why you are in my office," said Umbridge, shaking the fist clutching Harry's hair so that he staggered.

"With whom have you been communicating?"

"No one—"

"Liar!"

Hermione emitted a strangled cry as Umbridge threw Harry from her so that he slammed hard into the desk.

She had never felt such anger in her entire life. The hatred for the woman before her made the blood in her very veins boil.

There was a commotion outside and several large Slytherins entered, each gripping Ron, Ginny, Luna, and Neville. All four of them had been gagged, and, if possible, the situation felt even more hopeless.

Umbridge continued attempting to force the truth out of Harry, but he would not comply. She resorted to sending Malfoy to fetch Snape for what Hermione could only assume would be Veritaserum.

Just then, Hermione mentally kicked herself quite hard for not remembering that Snape was part of the Order. They had been too frantic with the news that McGonagall had been moved to St. Mungo's to realize that there was still one Order member left at the school.

"You are on probation!" shrieked Umbridge as Snape informed her that he would not be able to provide a fresh brew of Veritaserum for another month.

Snape merely bowed before turning to exit the room.

Hermione could hear her heart pounding in her ears as she watched their very last hope leave them.

However, Harry seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "He's got Padfoot!" he shouted. "He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!"

Hermione knew that Snape would be forced to feign ignorance towards Harry's outburst with Umbridge in the room, but a part of her was still left wondering whether or not he had, in fact, understood.

Only time would tell, she supposed.

"Very well...very well...I am left with no alternative...This is more than a matter of school discipline...This is an issue of Ministry security...Yes...yes"

There was somewhat of a deranged look in Umbridge's eye. Hermione swallowed hard, terrified of what the woman was planning.

"You are forcing me, Potter...I do not want to," said Umbridge, "but sometimes circumstances justify the use...I am sure the Minister will understand that I had no choice..."

Hermione was breathing faster now as Umbridge edged towards Harry slowly.

"The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue," said Umbridge quietly.

"No!" shrieked Hermione immediately.

She couldn't let that woman hurt Harry. She couldn't let her cause him such pain.

This was all her own fault! It was hurt fault that she had brought Harry here. It was her fault for not believing him. And it was her fault for not trusting him.

She hated herself because it was all her fault.

Slowly and agonizingly, Hermione watched as Umbridge raised her wand to point it directly over Harry's heart.

Hermione frantically searched through her mind for a way out of the mess that she had created.

Just think, Hermione. Think. Think. Think. Think. Think. Think.

"Cruc—"

"NO!" Hermione shouted again. Knowing that she was about to cause a great upheaval, she took a deep breath in, channelling what little performance abilities she possessed. "No—Harry—Harry, we'll have to tell her!"

"No way!" yelled Harry at once.

Hermione forced herself to continue, despite the treacherous feeling in the pit of her stomach that arose from Harry's tone of utter shock and disgust.

"We'll have to, Harry, she'll force it out of you anyway, what's...what's the point...?"

She let out few racking sobs that, if the situation were different, would be almost laughable.

They seemed to be working, however, as Millicent instantly pulled away from her, looking disgusted.

"Well, well, well!" said Umbridge, looking triumphant. "Little Miss Question-All is going to give us some answers! Come on then, girl, come on!"

"Er—my—nee—no!" shouted Ron through his gag.

"I'm—I'm sorry everyone," said Hermione, her face in her hands. "But—I can't stand it—"

"That's right, that's right, girl!" said Umbridge, seizing her by the shoulders. "Now then...with whom was Potter communicating just now?"

Fighting the urge to punch Umbridge very hard in the nose, Hermione continued on with her charade. "Well," she gulped into her hands, "well, he was trying to speak to Professor Dumbledore..."

In all honesty, she had absolutely no idea where she was going with any of this. Umbridge had demanded to know where Dumbledore was, but Hermione insisted they hadn't a clue.

"We...we wanted to tell him it's r-ready!" choked Hermione.

"What's ready?" demanded Umbridge, as she grabbed Hermione's shoulders again and shook her slightly.

Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Ron struggling aggressively against the Slytherin's hold on him.

"The..." she said, her throat feeling dry. "The weapon."

Looking up, Hermione caught a glimpse of the Forbidden Forest outside Umbridge's window and a sudden thought occurred to her.

"Er—are you sure this is the right way?" Harry asked her pointedly, as they trudged through the forest some time later, leading Umbridge to the 'weapon'.

"Oh yes," she said in a steely voice, crashing through the undergrowth with what she knew was a wholly unnecessary amount of noise. "It's a bit further in!"

"Hermione, keep your voice down," Harry muttered. "Anything could be listening in here..."

But this was precisely Hermione's plan. She had been leading them to the part of the forest that she knew was inhabited by Centaurs. The last time they were in the forest with Hagrid, the Centaurs were ready to kill any human being that ventured down their path. But they had refrained because they saw that Harry and Hermione were still 'innocent foals'.

It was this knowledge that led her further and further into the forest. However, Hermione still wasn't completely sure what it was she was doing. If Umbridge were to insult any of the Centaurs, they would surely have her killed. But...did she really want Umbridge dead?

She was about to Crucio Harry!

Yes, but she wasn't about to kill him.

Well, I wouldn't put it past her!

You're not a murderer, Hermione.

...

What other choice do I have?

Hermione was beginning to feel sick. Everything had happened so fast and she'd just panicked. But she couldn't stand by and watch Harry get tortured!

No, they won't kill her! As long as Harry and I are there, they'll let us all go. But not before Umbridge runs screaming from the forest. She'll be frightened. She'll forget all about Harry and the weapon and she'll run away.

"Who are you?" said a voice suddenly.

Hermione felt her heart stop. She heard Umbridge whimpering at her side, her wand trembling violently as she pointed it at the advancing centaur.

"I am Dolores Umbridge! Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic and Headmistress and High Inquisitor of Hogwarts!"

"You are from the Ministry of Magic?" the centaur named Magorian asked.

"That's right!" said Umbridge in a high voice. "So be very careful! By the laws laid down by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, any attack by half-breeds such as yourselves on a human—"

"What did you call us?" shouted a wild-looking black centaur.

Hermione desperately wanted to perform a silencing charm on Umbridge. Many of the centaurs' hooves were digging menacingly into the ground, ready to attack at any second.

"Don't call them that!" she said furiously, but Umbridge did not appear to have heard her as she continued on.

"Be quiet!" Hermione tried again, as she saw growing anger flash in the centaurs' eyes, but it was too late—Umbridge pointed her wand at Magorian and screamed, "Incarcerous!"

He gave a cry of rage and reared onto his hind legs, attempting to break free of the ropes around his body.

Hermione felt tears pierce her eyes as she saw the centaur struggle. How could anyone be so cruel?

Her sorrow was quickly replaced by fear, however, as the rest of the centaurs suddenly prepared to charge towards them.

She felt Harry grab her quickly and pull her to the ground.

That's it, she thought, we're done for.

Hermione briefly wondered why Harry didn't just throw her over to the stampede. After all, they were both going to die because of her. And Sirius could very well be dying in the Department of Mysteries at that moment, as well.

As it would turn out, however, they were not meant to die just then, for out of nowhere Grawp stormed into the clearing causing such fear and disarray that Harry and Hermione were able to make an escape.

It would also turn out that Ginny, Neville, and Luna would accompany Harry, Ron, and Hermione to the Ministry of Magic via Thestrals.

They were currently standing in a large room in the Department of Mysteries filled with endless rows of small glass orbs. Harry led them all the way down to row ninety-seven, but as they reached, one thing became blatantly clear: Sirius was nowhere to be found.

"Harry?" Ron called, suddenly.

"What?"

"Have you seen this?"

Ron was staring at one of the dusty orbs on the shelf curiously.

"It's—it's got your name on it," said Ron.

"Harry, I don't think you should touch it," said Hermione sharply as he reached out for the orb.

But, of course, he didn't listen to her.

As his hand wrapped around it, however, a drawling voice suddenly broke the silence. "Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."

All six of their heads whipped around instantly, and Hermione counted twelve dark, hooded figures standing behind Lucius Malfoy.

Hermione was all out of ideas. How in Merlin's name were they supposed to get out of this one?

She gasped suddenly as she felt Harry's foot press down hard against her toes.

"What?" she whispered.

Her heart was beating nervously in her chest. "What?" she asked again as Harry still hadn't answered her.

Barely moving his lips, he hissed, "Smash shelves."

Hermione figured this was meant to serve as a diversion and quickly passed down the message to Ginny who was standing next to her.

The five of them waited on edge for some sort of signal from Harry.

"NOW!" he yelled suddenly, and immediately they all shouted "REDUCTO!" with their curses flying in five different directions.

"RUN!" Harry yelled.

They all took off after Harry, running as fast as their legs could carry them, ducking the spells and curses that were being hurtled their way. Hermione chanced a glance behind her and noticed that Neville was trailing slightly. To her horror she saw a Death Eater point his wand directly at Neville's back.

"STUPEFY!" Hermione screamed, hitting the Death Eater squarely in the chest. She grabbed Neville by the arm, urging him to run faster.

Hermione spotted Harry up ahead dodging a jet of light and ran, if possible, even faster towards him.

"Colloportus!" Hermione gasped, after her and Neville made it inside the room with the time turners. The door sealed immediately.

"Where—where are the others?" gasped Harry.

Hermione felt her stomach drop. She thought Ron, Ginny, and Luna had been ahead of them!

"They must have gone the wrong way!" she said, terrified.

"Listen!" whispered Neville.

They could hear footsteps outside the door and then Lucius Malfoy's voice speaking to what sounded like two other Death Eaters.

Hermione looked up fearfully at Harry. "What do we do?" she whispered desperately.

"Well, we don't stand here waiting for them to find us, for a start," said Harry. "Let's get away from this door..."

They started running, but all too soon they heard a rough voice utter, "Alohomora!"

Harry, Hermione, and Neville dove quickly out of sight.

"They might've run straight through to the hall," said the rough voice.

"Check under the desks," said another.

Hermione could hear her heart pounding madly in her ears.

"STUPEFY!" Harry yelled suddenly, hitting the nearest Death Eater.

The second one however, now had his wand pointed directly at Hermione.

"Avada—"

Harry had immediately launched himself across the floor and grabbed the Death Eater around the knees as Neville shouted an "EXPELLIARMUS!"

Hermione let out a shaky breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. But there was no time to waste. The three of them sped out of the room in search of Ron, Ginny, and Luna.

With two more Death Eaters hot on their heels, they burst into a small, dark, cluttered office and slammed the door behind them. Before Hermione could seal it, however, the door had burst open again and the Death Eaters had come hurtling inside.

"WE'VE GOT HIM!" yelled the Death Eater nearest Harry, "IN AN OFFICE OFF—"

"Silencio!" cried Hermione at once as Harry immediately stunned the second Death Eater.

"Well done, Ha—"

But before Hermione could utter another word, the Death Eater she had just silenced, made a sudden slashing movement with his wand from which flew a streak of what looked like purple flame. It hit her hard in the chest, and she seemed to fall as if in slow motion to the ground.

The very last thing she heard was Harry screaming out her name. And then everything went black.

Hermione could feel the light of the sun beating against her eyelids, but she didn't want to open them just yet. She was extremely exhausted, and as her mind grew less foggy, the soreness of her body began to really hit her. She slowly opened her eyes, squinting from the light. Looking up at the walls and ceiling around her, she realized she was in the hospital wing. But how did she get there?

Hermione turned her head slightly to the side and saw that someone was sleeping in the hospital bed next to her. She caught a glimpse of the fiery red hair and instantly knew it was Ron.

Lifting her head off the pillow, she also noticed Harry, his head in his hands, sitting in a chair in between both her and Ron's beds.

Suddenly, all the memories of the Department of Mysteries came rushing back to her. But she still had no idea how they had gotten out of the Ministry of Magic, or more importantly why both her and Ron were now laying in the hospital wing.

Though Harry's face was hidden, Hermione could clearly see that he was greatly distressed about something.

She couldn't seem to summon enough energy to speak, however, so she lay there, content to simply stare at him for what could have been hours, but was, in reality, probably only a couple of minutes.

Hermione found herself wishing that Harry would just lift his head up. She wanted so badly to look into his eyes and see him looking back at her.

But she was so tired. So tired that she could just fall back asleep...

"Hermione?"

She lazily opened up her eyes at the sound of her name.

"Hermione?" the voice said again, this time louder.

"Hmm?"

She felt someone take her hand gently and turned her head to find Harry at her side.

"Hermione, you're awake," he said, relief evident in his voice.

"Harry..." she croaked.

He smiled softly at her as she spoke his name. But even through Hermione's stupor, she was still able to catch that his smile didn't quite reach his eyes. Something was wrong.

Her throat felt too dry to speak, and she swallowed quite painfully.

"Here," Harry said, seeming to sense her discomfort. He handed her a glass of water which Hermione took gratefully.

"What happened?" she asked, her voice still quite raspy.

Harry looked away for a moment, which left Hermione feeling slightly disappointed. His green eyes were giving her immense comfort, after all.

"You got hit by a curse from one of the Death Eaters named—"

"No, Harry...what happened?" Hermione asked.

"I don't understand what you mean..." Harry said, still not looking at her.

"I think you do," she insisted.

He sighed heavily, but began explaining to her everything that had occurred after she fell unconscious.

But he paused halfway through and didn't seem to want to continue.

"Harry...?" she said hesitantly. "Harry, what's wrong?"

But Harry continued to remain silent. She thought she saw his eyes glisten, but it could have been the light.

After a long moment, he finally spoke. "He's...he's gone," Harry said in a strangled voice.

"Who, Harry?" Hermione whispered breathlessly.

She saw deep sadness reflect in Harry's eyes as he looked at her. And as much as she wanted to hear his answer, she feared it all the same.

"Sirius," he stated.

Hermione felt her eyes brimming with tears. She fought hard to hold them back, but as she was already so weak at the moment, she failed miserably.

"Harry... " she whispered shakily, "Harry, I'm so sorry."

He was looking determinedly away from her, but she noticed him reach behind his glasses to wipe his eye once or twice. He didn't say anything for a long time, but merely sat there, staring at the wall.

It killed Hermione inside to see him like this. It absolutely killed her. She wished there was something, anything that could take his pain away. But she knew there wasn't. And on top of all that, she suddenly realized that he was blaming himself.

"Harry...you're not thinking this is your fault, are you?" she asked. "Because it's not!"

She saw him clench his jaw as he turned to look at her. "But it is, Hermione."

"No, Harry!" she said, forcefully, lifting herself up on the bed and wincing slightly in the process. "Everyone knew what they were getting themselves into!"

"Oh, don't give me that, Hermione!" Harry exclaimed. "I'm sick and tired of hearing that excuse. I risked all your necks because I was too thick to realize that Voldemort was pulling me into another one of his little traps again. And now you and Ron are both laying here in the hospital wing and Sirius is dead and it's all my fault, Hermione. It's all my fault!"

"Harry, you couldn't have known—"

"You did!" Harry retorted. "You knew, and you tried to warn me. But I didn't listen!"

"Why didn't I just listen?" he added in a tortured voice.

Hermione felt tears prickling her eyes again. "Harry, please...please don't blame yourself for this. Sirius would never want you to do such a thing," she pleaded, beginning to feel slightly worn out from the conversation.

Harry's face visibly softened as he seemed to note the exhaustion in Hermione's voice. "I'm sorry. For everything...Especially for this," he said, gesturing at her hospital bed.

"I thought you said a Death Eater cursed me, Harry," she said in mock confusion.

"Very funny," Harry said, giving her a small smile.

Hermione immediately returned it, feeling a small trace of comfort for the first time since she had awoken.

"Does it hurt much?" he asked, seriously.

"The pain comes and goes..." she replied. Which was true to a certain extent. It came...it just didn't go.

Harry gave her a look that clearly said he didn't believe her, but before he could open his mouth to argue, a tutting Madam Pomfrey emerged from out of her office.

"Mr. Potter!" she scolded. "I told you to come get me the second Miss Granger woke up!"

Harry winced slightly, obviously having forgotten. "I-I'm sorry—"

"I don't want to hear your apologies. I need you out of here so I can take a look at her. Out! Out! Out!" she said, shooing Harry out the door.

Hermione couldn't help but giggle slightly at the alarmed look on Harry's face.

"That boy will be the death of me," Madam Pomfrey muttered as she took out her wand and started fussing over Hermione.

"Yes...mine too," Hermione said quietly to herself.

LONG BUT RATHER IMPORTANT A/N: First of all I just want to apologize for using so many book quotes. I know how tedious it can be to read through them since I'm a fanfiction reader myself. But I just felt that this particular part of the story is rather essential in more than one way, characterization being the biggest one.

Now for the important part: As I move on to 6th year I felt I should warn you now that I WILL be following canon. I'm assuming you've all read the 6th book therefore I don't really need to elaborate. But why am I doing this you ask? Well, because I really care about this story. And I want it to be as real as possible and in real life, things don't always come easy. So...if you want to continue on with this story, you're going to have to be a little patient.

Having said this, 6th year will move much quicker than 5th year. Honestly, I just can't wait for the day when they're out of Hogwarts and Voldemort is defeated.

Finally, I would just like to assure everyone that I will NOT be waiting till the end of this story to get Harry and Hermione together.

That is all. Thank you and good day.