Hermione sighed as she walked back into Hogwarts. It was always nice to be back, even if she didn't particularly want to leave where she had been. She would miss Viktor every time she had to be separated from him.

"Hermione!" Ron yelled from halfway across the courtyard.

"What is it?" she asked after she had made her way over to them. She'd walked quickly and was a little bit out of breath.

"Just glad to see you."

Hermione snorted. "This wouldn't happen to be about Harry?"

Ron shrugged. "Not that much."

Hermione gave him a pointed look. She could usually tell when Ron wasn't telling her the whole situation. This looked to be one of those times. And it would be better for everyone if he told her upfront.

Ron flushed. "He's a wreck. Hardly eating. Barely sleeping. Been sneaking sleeping draughts into his tea."

"I hope you checked with someone about that."

"Oh, I did," Ron said. "Checked with Madame Pomfrey to make sure that there weren't going to be adverse effects. She said try to keep it down to less than two doses per week, but other than that things should be fine."

Hermione nodded. Two doses of sleeping potion probably wouldn't affect Harry too much down the line. And he could likely use the sleep. Especially if Ron thought so.

Hermione loved her friends. But Ron had never been the most observant individual. If he thought Harry needed sleep one night, Harry had probably been needing it for a week prior to that. But they'd all been watching Harry since before the holidays.

"Hermione!" Harry said. He looked worse than Hermione had hoped. Better than she'd feared, however. Which was nice.

"Harry," she breathed. "It's good to see you."

"Not as good as it is to see you. Malfoy's been up to something all holiday."

"Sleeping," Ron said. "He looks better rested than you do."

He did from where Hermione stood. Still exhausted, but he wasn't quite as thin and disheveled as Harry was.

"Of course he does," Harry cursed. "He doesn't have the weight of everyone on him."

"Not of your people," Ron said.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Hermione had already come up with an idea of what Ron meant. She was fairly sure that he was talking about the fact that there were two sides in any conflict. And those who they were fighting against weren't likely to see that they were putting any weight on Harry.

"Just that you and Malfoy don't exactly see eye to eye on most things," Ron said. "I doubt that he feels the weight of Hermione on him. But his mother could be putting pressure on him."

"And even if things are perfectly fine, his father's still in Azkaban. That's got to put some stress on him," Hermione added.

"Fair enough," Harry muttered.

He didn't think it was fair. Not even in the slightest. But he couldn't say as much. Not with Hermione there. Both she and Ron had heard Harry talk about it for hours on end. And they hadn't change their minds one bit.

"Hey guys," Neville said.

"Hi Neville," Hermione said.

"Wow, Harry. You look something awful."

"You do," Padma said from beside her boyfriend.

"I know," Harry said. "And I know that Malfoy looks tired, but not as tired. Why don't you guys try telling me something I don't already know?"

"It's colder in some parts of the United States than it is in certain parts of Canada this time of year," Padma said.

"What?" everyone said.

"Harry asked us to tell him something he didn't know," Padma explained.

Harry heaved a dramatic sigh. He had instigated that. But that didn't mean that he wanted smart aleck comments. Sometimes he didn't like being friends with Ravenclaws.

Luna ran over and pecked Harry on the cheek. "You look exhausted. Have you been sleeping?"

"Not exactly," Harry confessed.

"Got to bed. Malfoy will still be around for you to stalk when you get up," Luna said.

He scurried off, quick to do as she asked.

"How'd you manage that?" Hermione asked.

Luna smiled serenely. "You just have to let him know that you're listening. If you don't discount what he thinks, he's far more likely to listen to you."

Hermione filed the advice away for later consideration. At that point she was just happy that Harry was willing to sleep on someone's advice. Beggars couldn't be choosers.

She was just to ask Luna if she could speak with her later when she noticed that the blonde was gone. Hermione sighed. Luna always seemed to vanish before Hermione could get to the questions she really wanted to ask.

A/N: Hi guys. I'm still working on this story, I promise. I had left all of them for a while. But I'm taking a small break from work for stress, medical reasons, and my sister's wedding. So hopefully that means that I can write a little bit more. And I did have to go through roughly seventy some chapters to figure out what direction I was heading in. I did figure it out. But we're far from over. Hope you guys enjoyed this little snippet.