Author's Note: Eh, this is a short chapter, but my brain was getting all confuzzled, so I felt that I needed to at least write something. First of all, thank you to the peeps who reviewed, favorited, and alerted this story! You guys rock! I hope that ya'll will like this chapter just as much :) I will most likely update this story weekly, or something like that. "Delusional First Years" is not on hold, it's just...taking a while to come up with a decent plot for the next chapter. I am working on it, though! I promise :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Unfortunately.

Tears of a Mourning Bookworm

Chapter Two: Loss of Comfort

Harry watched Hermione as her brown eyes fluttered open. She looked at the ceiling for a few moments, as though trying to comprehend exactly where she was. Finally, her eyes met his, and she inhaled deeply.

"Harry?" she said, squinting to see if it was really him. Harry just nodded: he was in too much shock at that moment to really say anything. Hermione swallowed, closed her eyes, and said, "It's you."

"Y-Yeah, it's me," Harry said hesitantly. His vivid green eyes fell upon her brown ones, which were now slowly opening in another attempt to see Harry clearly. "Are you...are you okay?" But the moment the words escaped his mouth, he regretted saying them. Of course she wasn't okay. "I mean, um..." He tried to cover it up, but his voice trailed off and he hoped that Hermione would comprehend his intention.

Harry watched her as she closed her eyes again, inhaled deeply, and placed her head more comfortably on her pillow. After a few awkward moments, Hermione said, "I'm getting better." Her voice was extremely soft and somewhat shaky. She looked up and blinked several times. Harry's heart sank into a bottomless, pitch black pit of nothing. She was trying not to cry in front of him. Harry wanted to tell her that it was okay for her to cry, and that he understood how terrible it was to be an orphan. He took a sharp breath and said, "Hermione, it's okay to cry, you know. I understand," he said gently.

Hermione's eyes abandoned their glare at the ceiling and fell upon Harry. Without even thinking about it, Harry reached out and held her hand. His hand was fairly larger than hers, which refused to return the pressure. After about a minute or two of gazing into each other's eyes, Hermione shook her head. "I can't. It makes me feel weak," she admitted.

As if on cue, his heart sank even lower. "It's me, Hermione. You can cry in front of me," Harry said reassuringly as his thumb absentmindedly stroked the top of her hand.

Suddenly, the door bursted open. "Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley insists on meeting you," Healer Kerrie said as she stumbled through the doorway, adjusting her hat. Her face was red with frustration.

"Hermione!" Ron's voice bellowed out from the hallway.

Hermione removed her hand from Harry's and smacked it against her already injured forehead. She muttered something under her breath and said quietly, "Only for five minutes." The Healer nodded obidiently and turned on her heels to allow Ron inside.

"Are you alright? Is everything okay? I'm going to murder whoever did this to you!" Ron exclaimed as he rushed in, disreguarding the fact that she might've wanted a peaceful, calm atmosphere.

"Ron, please...shut up," she muttered softly. Hermione was trying her best to make her point very clear, but given her terrible state, Ron just smiled and continued interogating her.

"Ron! You heard her!" Harry snapped automatically. He hadn't even been aware of what he was saying...however, he was quite angry at Ron.

Harry's best friend's ears got very red and he shut his mouth immediately. "Fair enough. I knew I wasn't wanted here," he said roughly.

Hermione closed her eyes tightly, while Harry clenched his jaw. How could Ron just walk in and act like nothing horrible happened? As if Hermione's parents didn't die, and she was in full health? Ron always had a protectice instinct towards Hermione, but now, he seemed more anxious to just blab on rather than sit by her side and try to comfort her. Despite his previous comment, he continued talking to Hermione.

"How long are you going to stay here?" Ron asked curiously.

Hermione shrugged reluctantly and looked off to the side. She grabbed a piece of her bushy hair and twisted it around her finger (which sported several deep cuts), as though trying to distract herself from the unfortunate reality of the entire situation.

Finally, after five minutes (and Healer Kerrie seemed to be timing it exactly), Ron was ordered out of the room by the aggrivated Healer.

"Hermione?" Harry said uncertainly as Hermione buried her face in her heavily bandaged hands. "Hermione, are you okay?"

She shook her head and didn't lift her face from her hands. Harry's heart sank into the bottomless pit even further. He didn't know what to do at this point. He had never been good with comforting people...and it was supposed to be a little better for him to comfort Hermione, since she was his best friend. But alas, Harry was at for loss of words and actions.

And that's when it happened: Tears spilled out from Hermione's hands uncontrolably. She sniffled, trying to stop crying. Harry looked around the room, looking for a tissue, or something that would offer comfort. Luckily, there was a box of tissues right by the door...Harry quickly ran across the room to gather it, then returned to the side of Hermione's hospital bed.

"Here...I have tissues..." he said softly, holding out a tissue. Hermione slowly removed her hands from her face and then grabbed a tissue immediately, obviously attempting to cover up her appearance as she was crying. "Hermione, it's okay...it's okay to cry in front of me. And I won't think that you're weak," he added. "I understand what you're going through."

Realization seemed to hit Hermione. She discarded the tissue and lifted her eyes up to Harry. Then, without needing words, she nodded.

Author's Note: Just seemed like a good part to stop. I don't know. Please review:)