Her heart was still beating him her chest as she ran down the corridors and to the painting. Breathing heavily, she gave the password and jumped through the portrait door. She put her back to the door as she closed her eyes and caught her breath. No, he wasn't a murderer, but she had seen murder in his eyes and that had sent her running. Some Gryffindor she was. A cough in the corner caused her to jump and open her eyes rapidly. No one should have been up at this hour? She scanned the room towards the noise and saw Harry sitting in front of the fire. Looking down at the paper in front of him.

"I was surprised to see your name moving along the corridors, figured I would see where you were going so late," Harry shrugged before meeting her eye "Even more surprised to see where you ended up going." His eyebrows drew together, and she sat next to him on the couch.

"I saw you. Running away. Myrtle was screaming so you took off and didn't see me coming around the corner. I should've turned away but this year everyone's been so strange, I was worried that you had gotten into something you couldn't handle. Then I saw him, Harry with all the blood, why did you run? You could've actually killed him." She whispered looking at the map on the table. Draco was pacing in the Hospital Wing same as when she left him. Blaise and Nott were approaching the doors and she sighed.

"Did you tell Snape what you saw." He asked her she felt the heat coming up her neck and forced it back down.

"Harry, I love you, I do. But yes, when Snape came in and asked what had happened I told him I saw you running. No matter what professor had come in, no matter who I had seen running in the halls away from it I would've told. I'm not sorry." She shook her head and watched as his shoulders tensed for a moment and prepared herself. He then relaxed and let out a breath closing the map.

"Why did you visit him?"

"I needed to make sure you hadn't actually killed him. I figured I could take just about anything he would throw at me but I had to make sure he was still alive." It wasn't a lie. It was so close to the truth it felt wrong coming from her.

"He's up to something Hermione, maybe killing him would stop him from killing whoever he was going after." His hands tensed and she covered them with her own, he brought his eyes to her for the first time and she could see the war going on behind his eyes.

"Neither of you are killers." He let out a noise of disbelief and she rolled her eyes in return. "Neither of you are killers Harry, so stop trying to be." There was a silence between them and he looked at their joined hands and shook his head. She squeezed his hand before sliding hers out and fidgeting with the couch beneath her.

"I didn't mean to cut him to pieces Hermione, I wasn't familiar enough with the spell and there he was talking nonsense and then insults, and I just said it. It was…" He turned pale and she could see the regret in his eyes.

"What was he saying?"

"He was crying. Crying about a cabinet and a dead bird."

He paced back in forth in front of the space where the door should have been. Why wasn't the damn thing opening. He had lost three days. There was a now less than thirty days until the end of the school term and he would be on a train back home. A train ride back as a failure and a disgrace. He bit at his cheek and embraced the pain to bring him back to his sanity. He banged on the wall in front of him begging it to open and let him in. The hallway was empty, why wouldn't the damn thing open for him. He could feel the panic building up inside and laid his head against his arm on the wall, he took a few moments to breath and began pacing again.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Three…

The door slowly started to appear, and he held in a cry of success as he impatiently held his had where the doorknob would be, turning it the second it appeared and walking in to the room.

He quickly walked to the back corner of the room and stopped dead in his tracks on the way. There in front of him was a nightmare. What was She doing here? She was staring at the cabinet the same way he had watched her stare at any problem that came her way over the past six years. His heart caught in him throat and his vision blurred. No, she shouldn't be here. He made to back away and his foot caught a pile to his left sending artifacts crashing to the ground. She let out a scream and turned and looked at him, in her hand her wand was aimed and ready. She lowered it slightly and put her hand over her heart.

"You scared me." She said smiling slightly and putting her wand back in place. "So, this is it huh. I was surprised to see the door; I have walked past this room looking for you many times and nothing has ever appeared until today."

"Why are you here?" her cheeks flushed, and she rang her hands in front of herself.

"I was looking for you, I just said that. I'm not sure why you're looking at me like that." She looked nervous. He could feel his hands shaking and the acid rising up in his throat.

"You shouldn't be here."

"I wanted to see what you were doing. I knew enough for the door to let me in that's all, I just wanted to look at it. I didn't touch anything; I'm not sabotaging you or your mother. I simply wanted to make sure you were breathing and moving. Please stop looking at me like that you're making me nervous. She took a step backwards to give space and the cabinet rocked behind her as she bumped into it. He flung himself forward pulling her out of the way and steading the monster.

"You shouldn't be here. Studying it. You shouldn't be doing this Granger; you have no idea what this thing can do. What evil is just beyond the veil." He was screaming at her now. She had planted her feet and was taking it, there was a fire behind her eyes as she stood her ground.