Chapter 6

Their arrival at Grimmauld Place the night of the wedding had been…hectic, to say the least. After being ambushed by a specter of Dumbledore, set by him to protect headquarters against any possible intruders, the three of them had been more than a little unsettled. Kreacher creeping about in his usual, cantankerous way had not helped to make matters any better.

They had all decided to sleep in one of the sitting rooms that had been thoroughly cleaned by Molly Weasley with their help two years prior. Hermione had not felt comfortable being in a room by herself and the boys had agreed that it would be better to all stay in the same room together anyway, just in case they needed to make a quick escape.

The next morning had found the three of them exploring the house, looking for anything that could help them in their search.

"Hey, Hermione? Ron?"

Hermione could hear Harry's voice carrying softly down the stairs from one of the rooms upstairs, loud enough for them to hear him, but not so loud as to awaken the shrewish portrait of Sirius' mother that hung on the wall behind Hermione. She instinctively glanced behind her to ensure that the horrid woman was still hidden safely behind her drapery before making her way up the stairs to Harry.

She finally found him standing in front of an open door, peering into a bedroom. He didn't seem to be too concerned with the contents of the bedroom itself, however, but was intently studying the door itself.

"Harry? What's the matter?" she asked as Ron walked up behind them.

"This was Sirius' brother's room. Regulus," Harry said.

"Regulus Arcturus Black," Ron read off of the nameplate on the door. "Wait…Regulus Arcturus… R.A.B! Do you think he's the one who took the locket?"

Harry said nothing, simply nodded in reply. Hermione was confused. Sirius had always told them that Regulus had become a Death Eater after leaving Hogwarts. Why would he have stolen the Horcrux? She said as much to Harry.

"Maybe he had a change in heart, like another Slytherin we know?" he suggested, looking at her intently.

She simply nodded. It was more understandable than either of the boys even realized. From her many conversations with Draco, she knew in detail exactly what outgrowing the ideals of one's parents could do to someone. She could very easily understand Regulus having an attack of conscience and changing sides, even if he hadn't gone so far as to go to anyone in the Order for help.

They had made their way down to the kitchen where Harry had summoned Kreacher. The emotion that had overtaken the surly house elf at the sight of Regulus's old locket had filled Hermione with sadness; it was obvious how much the house elf had loved Regulus, and it was obvious that the wizard had treated Kreacher kindly to be able to have inspired such love and devotion.

Although she had liked Sirius a lot, and she would never say anything of the sort to Harry, who still grieved his godfather tremendously, she did wonder what might have happened had he been able to find it within himself to forgive and move on. Had he been kinder to Kreacher, perhaps Sirius would be alive and here with them today.

She shook herself back to the present in time to hear Kreacher informing Harry that Mundungus Fletcher had been the one to take the locket from Grimmauld Place after Sirius's death.

"Mundungus Fletcher!" she thought to herself. "I swear if I ever get ahold of him, I will make him regret it! First Harry gets attacked by Dementors on his watch in fifth year, then Moody is killed because of him, and now he is the sole reason why we don't have a Horcrux within our reach. I could bloody strangle that man!"

"Find him Kreacher," Harry ordered, and Kreacher disappeared with a sullen glare at Harry, followed by a low bow and a sharp crack.

Now, hours later, the house was dark and quiet. It was late, nearly two in the morning the last time Hermione had checked, and the boys were fast asleep in the sitting room that had been designated as their shared bedroom. Hermione couldn't sleep, however, and was instead wandering the halls of the otherwise empty house.

To be honest, although she was certain that no one had noticed yet, she really hadn't slept for more than three or four hours at a time since she had left home…and her parents. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see herself walking away from them again and the pressure that built in her chest would grow until she felt like there was a hippogriff sitting on her chest.

Eventually, though, the exhaustion would overtake her, and she would finally fall into a deep sleep…for a while. Then, the dreams would start. In the dreams, her parents would come up to her and hold her close for a moment, only to grow suddenly cold and distant. They would push her away from them.

"You're not our daughter anymore," her mother would say, harsh and uncaring.

"You discarded us, Hermione." This from her father, who pulled her mother away from her. As they walked away from her, he would turn and say over his shoulder, "You decided you didn't want us anymore. We're happier now without you."

She always woke from the dream drenched in a cold sweat with tears racing down her cheeks, body shaking and nausea churning in her stomach. Any hope of falling back asleep after the dream was always hopeless – hence why she found herself wandering the halls of Grimmauld Place in the wee hours of the morning.

To make matters worse, the pain in her heart over the guilt regarding what she had done to her parents was compounded by the ache of missing Draco. Seeing him for those few moments at the wedding had lifted her spirits for a short while, and she had been relieved beyond words to know that he was alive…that Voldemort hadn't killed him in anger over the failure of his mission.

However, after leaving him behind at the wedding, she had felt a kind of…despondency settle into her heart. All she wanted right now was to melt into Draco's strong embrace and fall apart at the seams. She was tired of being strong. She needed someone to help her carry the weight.

Song Inspiration: Undone – Haley Reinhart

Okay, so I know that someone is going to say it, so I'll say it first. I know that my Hermione seems a little bit...broken. I did that on purpose. As someone who has always been seen as a strong person by the majority of the people in my life, I know for a fact that strong people can battle depression just like everyone else. In my mind, Hermione is not truly broken, she just has a lot of guilt, worry, and anxiety heaped on her plate right now. And as her good friend Ronald Weasley once said, "One person couldn't feel all that at once, they'd explode." Well, our girl may not be exploding, but she is certainly cracking under the weight.

sbz