A/N – sorry again for the delay, haven't really had the drive to write anything in the last couple weeks. But I once again find myself sitting here at 5 in the morning, not having gone to bed yet, and now inspiration decides to rear it's beautiful head. Oh well, guess I have something to keep me occupied. As always, a huge thank you to all of my dear readers and reviewers, you are all amazing! And I know I said it a while back but I have to say it again, a huge thank you to my great friend and surrogate big brother (as my real one lives in Japan), Cenobite829 for willingly, which is really the surprising part, putting up with my random thoughts and helping my put them in an order that normal humans understand.

-O-O-

Five days had passed since the fight between Rolanda and Hermione, and now, at barely 4 in the morning, the older of the 2 slowly made her way towards the room where they had spent all of their time practicing. The doors to the Room of Requirement loomed in front of her and, truth being told, she didn't have the slightest idea what she was going to say to her young friend regarding her behavior. Heaving a sigh she carefully pushed the door open and stepped into what she had come to think of as their practice court.

The room looked much the same, save for the practice dummies that littered to court. Once or twice Rolanda had used them but never this many and never with so many arms or moving that fast, though she had watched Hermione practice with these with ease at several times over the last few weeks. The pole that Hermione normally practiced on in the morning was empty however and what shocked the white haired woman the most was her friend. The brunette was swiftly making her way around the track but wasn't truly trying to avoid the arms of the dummies, as they struck her arms and legs in passing.

Hermione hadn't even noticed her friend come in the room. She knew she shouldn't be practicing with the dummies when she was so distracted but the dull pain the arms caused by the bruises she would bare later helped clear the fog from her head. Unfortunately, one of the arms came around too quick for her to move around it and it struck across her stomach, which, in conjunction with her current speed, caused her to flip over the arm and land flat on her back, all the air leaving her lung in the process.

Rolanda hurried over after witnessing the fall and helped the young witch sit up, bracing her against her chest. "Are you ok?" she whispered in her ear.

Hermione nodded, her mind immediately knowing they should discuss what happened between them but not able to get the air in her lung to form full words yet.

"Just take a minute, then we can talk." Again Hermione nodded to the request. The seconds slowly ticked by and the tension in Hermione's shoulders gradually began to ease and she relaxed into Rolanda. "Mia?" she whispered into the brown frizzy hair beneath her nose.

"Hmm?" came the contented response.

"We should talk." Rolanda was dreading this conversation.

Little did she know Hermione feared this conversation more. She wasn't sure what she would do if she lost Rolanda now, lost the support and friendship the two of them had gained. "Ok."

Pulling Hermione to her feet she dragged her away from the court and over to the wall by the door where they often sat and talked. They sat facing each other, but neither looking at the other. Rolanda not daring to look Hermione in the eye, and Hermione not wanting to see the disappointment in Rolanda's.

"First," Ro whispered, "I'm sorry for talking to you like the boys used to. I didn't know that they used to say things like that and honestly they should have learned how to do their own work in the first year instead of having you constantly help them with everything they did. Second, I know you want to be a teacher here when you finish your Mastery. I didn't actually mean it when I said you are a lousy teacher. You are actually an incredible teacher and I never should have said that, I let my temper and frustration get the better of me. Finally, I truly do want to continue to learn this, and I am glad that you are the one helping me. I'm so sorry Mia, please forgive me." Ro clutched at her hand as if it was her life line. Fear of losing the younger woman tore through her system, making her want to run and hide from everything.

When at last Hermione finally looked up, her friend still had her eyes cast elsewhere. "How did you know about the boys? And me wanting to be a teacher?"

"I-I talked to McGonagall about what happened a couple days ago." Ro whispered.

"What? Why?" Hermione wasn't comfortable at all knowing that the 2 older women had spent time discussing her.

"She knows you better than I do. I needed some advice on how to apologize, and I needed to know all of the things I said that were wrong. I would have asked you, but you were doing a very good job of avoiding everyone, and I didn't know how to face you after I said those things." Hooch began to fidget with her shirt, releasing Hermione's hand, absolutely sure now that the younger witch wanted nothing to do with her anymore.

Hermione reached out and tilted the older witch's face towards hers. "Next time, just come find me. I can't promise I won't still be angry about whatever it will be that we fight about, and we will fight, but I can promise that I will listen. Just give me time to calm down first. And as long as we are confessing,' she rolled up her sleeves and showed the older witch the new scars that decorated her arms. "I didn't exactly have an easy time of you walking away either." Came the quiet whisper from the brunette.

Rolanda reached out and held Hermione's arms in her hands, gently stroking the newly healed flesh. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I won't walk away again." She rose onto her knees and yanked Hermione close to her, pulling her head to her chest and wrapping her arms around slim shoulders. "I promise I won't walk away from you."

The young woman buried her nose in Ro's shirt and inhaled the familiar scent. A small smile tugged at her lips and she tightened her hold on her friend's waist. She felt the older woman shift to sit against the wall and moved so that she was seated next to her, so close to the older woman in fact that she was forced to raise her arm and drape it over the younger witch's shoulders.

The older witch smiled and sat contentedly for a long while, running her fingers through her friend's hair. When she, pressed a gentle kiss to her temple, the brunette looked up at her, she paused. Again, as had happened many times before, their gazes locked and the longing that she always felt when in the younger woman's presence erupted in her chest. She could feel the heat that flowed like liquid fire through her veins, heating every part of her body and a heady arousal igniting in her lower belly. She reached up with her other hand and ran the backs of her fingers along the length of the face angled up towards her own. 'No' she thought to herself, 'NO!' With an almost inhuman force, she snapped herself out of the trance that held her, smiled, and pressed her lips to Hermione's forehead. 'I won't allow this to happen. She needs me to be her friend. I won't screw that up."

Hermione for her part had felt sure that Ro was going to kiss her for that very brief moment. She had felt her heart stutter to a halt and her mind draw a blank as she stared at the lip moving ever so slowly toward her own. When the older witch stopped however, and simply smiled before placing a gentle kiss on her forehead, she knew she had been wrong. 'You were right before.' That evil voice inside her own head whispered to her. 'She doesn't want you. She never could. You could never hold a candle to her, she is beautiful, strong, resilient, everything you aren't.' she was glad when the bell for breakfast finally rang and the two of them set off. Hermione determined to pretend that nothing was wrong, and Rolanda determined to never let that happen again.

A/N – Once again, sorry for the huge delay between chapters. As always please read and review. Reviews make the world go round and give authors the 'want to' to get the next chapter done more quickly. Thanks! Love you all! -Daine