"He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise." -Voltaire
* * *
Hagrid kicked open the castle doors and watched as Dumbledore ran up to him.
"What happened?"
"I think 'e fell," Hagrid croaked out as tears seemed to endlessly streak down his face.
Dumbledore helped Hagrid to the infirmary and asked him to inform Professor McGonagall of the news.
He looked down at Harry and saw a pale crumpled body that didn't seem much like the life-filled boy he had first seen six years ago.
He heard a gasp from behind him and he knew it could only be Minerva.
"Is he?"
"Barely alive, although it shouldn't be possible."
"Why?"
"Because he jumped from the Owlery."
"How-"
McGonagall stopped herself; of course Albus knew everything that was going on in the castle.
"Please inform Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger, and do ask Hagrid to Floo over to the Weasley home," he said.
He tried to sound indifferent, like it was any other student lying on the bed, but it wasn't. It was Harry Potter.
Madame Pomfrey worked on him, hurrying frantically to her cupboards and back to the bed. After just a few minutes had passed, he watched as Hermione came into the room and started to cry uncontrollably, while Ron tried everything to comfort her.
Albus did not feel like staying where he could neither help nor be active in any way, so he chose that point to go back up to his office.
Madame Pomfrey ended up giving Hermione something to calm her down. She looked over to Harry and saw something she missed the first time, her promise ring was on his left hand. She felt as if she couldn't breathe and had to leave. She pushed past Hagrid and the Weasleys as she ran out of the castle.
She was only allowed a minute of solitude before Mrs. Weasley came out and draped her husband's cloak around Hermione's shoulders.
"He was wearing the promise ring I gave to him," Hermione sniffed. "I put it on a chain so he could wear it without people seeing it, but he put it on his finger."
Mrs. Weasley apparently didn't care what Hermione was feeling at the moment, she wanted to ask some questions.
"Hermione, Hagrid... It's a big possibility that Harry jumped. Was there anything that he said, had he been depressed..."
"Just chipper," Hermione laughed. "Sirius just died, he has the weight of the wizarding world on his shoulders, and the normal problems of a sixteen year old; how the fuck do you want him to feel?"
"Hermione!"
Harry had usually been the one to use the bad words, now she understood why, they were empowering.
"No! I'm not one of your hundred children; you don't get to scold me! Besides, if you should feel the need, there are more reasons to scold me other than my language."
Having unprotected sex for most of the term was one. She knew her mother would have a heart attack if she learned that little fact.
"Ron said that the two of you had been spending quite some time together recently, I thought he might have said something to you. Anything really, it may not have seemed like much at the time."
"I didn't hear him say anything." Hermione shook her head.
"You must have, with all the time you spent together."
* * *
Could I actually say it to the mother of all mothers? Could I utter the words to this completely sweet woman? Of course I could, I was angry at everything and everyone.
"We didn't talk all that much."
For a woman who had raised six boys she was painfully oblivious, "Are you saying that Ron lied to me?"
"No, I'm saying we were too busy."
My eyes make contact with hers and she finally gets my meaning.
"Hermione, now is not the time to.... make things up."
You really don't want to give a desperate girl cannon fodder. I hated her; I hated Harry for not having to be
here to deal with this, and I hated myself. Not until then did I realize the actual seriousness of my situation.
"Because the 'boy who lived' could never do anything like that. WE HAD SEX! ON ALMOST A NIGHTLY BASIS; I say almost nightly because we really didn't care what time of day it was."
It was then that Mrs. Weasley did something I never expected her to do. She slapped me.
"Don't lie!"
"I'm not! Ask Dumbledore; if he really knows everything that goes on in this castle he'll know. Harry was using me for sex."
I walked back up towards the castle, then turned around, "He's not perfect, if you'd stop putting him on a pedestal you'd see he's just like the rest of us." I paused, "He may have used me, but I gave it up willingly. It may have been the stupidest thing I have ever done, but if he came to me again and asked for it, I would do it in a heartbeat."
* * *
Ron watched as his mother walked out of the infirmary in search of Hermione.
He didn't tell her why Harry and Hermione had spent so much time together, he didn't want to make trouble for his best friends, but he also didn't want to get in his mother's way.
He looked sideways to meet his father's questioning gaze.
"Ron, can we have a moment?"
"Sure."
Ron and his father walked over to a quiet corner of the infirmary.
"Is there anything else, something you didn't want to tell your mother?"
Ron gulped.
"You... I don't know."
"Don't worry, no one will get into trouble."
"You have to understand, it's been a hard year for Harry, he wasn't thinking clearly."
"What did he do?"
"He... He and Hermione have been... Tonight Hermione and Harry had a fight, about what their relationship exactly was. Hermione came to Gryffindor Tower and I convinced her to stay and wait for Harry, but he never came. I swear I just found out about this tonight, I would have talked to him before, but he didn't tell me. The only reason I'm telling you is because Mum can't know. I don't know what she'd do to them."
"So that ring-"
"Is from Hermione."
Mr. Weasley nodded and thanked his son for telling him the truth, then went back to Harry's bedside. Could this boy have actually done what it seemed he did? Hermione wouldn't lie, and after Sirius' death he had been acting strange.
* * *
"Hagrid, you may speak freely," Dumbledore said as he sat down at his desk.
Mrs. Weasley, Minerva, and Hagrid had entered his office around the same time; he was sure they were going to come to him sooner.
"Harry, when I seen 'im on the grounds b'fore he... Well I-"
"You saw him before? Why didn't you bring him up to bed? What were you thinking?"
"Molly, let Hagrid say what he will," Dumbledore said.
"When I seen 'im on the grounds 'e told me some things, I thought 'e was jus' sayin' them 'cause 'e was drunk."
"A student drunk on the grounds?" McGonagall interrupted.
"Minerva, please. As you were saying?"
"Well, 'e was drunk but ev'rybody 'as their bad days, I though' I could jus' get 'im teh bed and 'e would sleep it off." Hagrid coughed, "But 'e started teh say teh me 'e doesn' like girls, an' I said 'don' go sayin' that 'cause Hermione's a girl'. I was really surprised by what 'e said nex'. He says he 'ates 'er mos' of all, says she abandoned 'im. Then 'e goes on sayin' he 'ates 'imself more 'an... well You-Know-Who. I ask'd 'im why, and 'e says... well, 'e says tha' he 'urt 'Ermione, and 'e don' want teh go on, that 'e jus' wants teh rest. I tell 'im I can bring 'im teh bed, but 'e didn' wan' that. He says the bes' dreams he 'as is of You-Know-Who killin' him when 'e was a baby. He wen' back up teh the castle then. I though' he was goin' teh sleep it off. If I knew I would 'ave done something, but 'e had been actin' odd for a while."
Hagrid sat back down in his chair and tried with all his might to hold back the tears.
"Dumbledore, I was wondering, could I speak to you alone?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
Dumbledore nodded and McGonagall put her arm around Hagrid and helped him out of the office.
"Hermione said something to me tonight, I don't want to believe it, but..."
"You want to know if she and Harry had a relationship? Hermione didn't lie, whatever she said to you was the truth."
"So you just let your students go around and..." Mrs. Weasley gestured wildly.
"Of course, not."
"But, you knew the entire time, didn't you?" Mrs. Weasley's voice became an octave higher.
"I did. Every time a male student finds a way of getting around the charms not allowing them into the girls dorms a silent alarm goes off and I am informed of which student it is and if their actions become inappropriate."
"So you just stood back and let it happen? What kind of school..." Mrs. Weasley stopped herself before she insulted Dumbledore.
"Harry has been on this earth for a mere sixteen years, and in that sixteen years he has had to face more hardships than most living wizards. Just as I informed him last year, he has had more problems to face than any other student to ever walk through those doors. I made the mistake of treating him like a boy, he isn't, in every way that counts he is a man. I decided to treat his decision like I would any other man, I would respect it. After everything you have heard, do you still care about him?"
"Of course," Mrs. Weasley said.
"Then go help him."
* * *
Remus Lupin walked through the entrance of the Great Hall; Hermione Granger was sitting at the Gryffindor table alone. He walked to the table and sat down across from her.
"I've seen Mrs. Weasley," he said.
She shook her head, "Are you going to call me a liar, too?"
"Never. I just thought you should know, I know what happened. If you want me to leave, I will."
"You don't hate me?" She looked up at him, tears threatening to pour from her eyes.
He laughed heartily at that, "No. I was a student here once. Oh let's face it; I was just in love with my books. I was you."
She shook her head.
"You don't think so? I think we're more alike than even I want to admit. Books, facts, it's easy. Facts can't lie, they are what they are. But feelings... Feelings are dangerous. They are the unknown; and they can kill, much worse than any Dark wizard. So you fancy someone, but you don't say anything to them, feelings pass. But then it becomes something more than fancy. You begin to take in everything they say as if it were a fact, and everything they do impacts you. It can't be love because love happens to witches in their thirties, after they get a career. But the world is different when they are around, and even though you are unsure about yourself you are definitely sure that your world would wither and die without them. But, it can't be love, you hope against all odds that it isn't love because if it is, then your world of facts crumbles and you are left lost and no one can make it better; save one person.... But we aren't alike."
Tears ran down Hermione's cheeks, "Who, why?"
"Sirius wasn't gay."
Hermione nodded, "I was alone, I had Harry, Ron, Neville, Ginny, even Luna. I was surrounded by more friends than I had ever had, and I was all alone. It hurt, but being with him made the pain go away. I was too far-gone, I didn't even care that it wasn't logical. When we spent time together we were both alone, but we were together. We had each other. I never expected dates, or overt displays of affection. I thought we were dating, I thought I meant something to him."
"Don't you?" Lupin asked.
"Apparently not."
"Did you ask him how he felt about you? Or did you just assume? When dealing with emotions you can't just draw a logical conclusion, you have to ask."
Hermione wiped her eyes, "Thanks... I should get back to Harry."
Lupin nodded.
* * *
Hermione walked up to Harry's bed and sat down next to Ron. Mr. Weasley approached and put a hand on her back.
"How are you?"
"Fine," she said.
Mr. Weasley gave her a fatherly smile and sat down next to them. Surely he was the first one Mrs. Weasley had talked to after their meeting, and yet the information made him worry more for her. Mr. Weasley was a mystery to her, or maybe he was just a really good man.
"How is he?" she asked.
"Madame Pomfrey fixed all of his bones, the internal damages were minimal for someone who jumped so far. She doesn't know when he'll wake up," Mr. Weasley said.
"It was the prophecy, wasn't it? That stopped him from dying. He told us a long time ago," Ron said.
"Most likely," Mr. Weasley nodded.
Hagrid walked in and sat down on a bed next to Harry, his weight made the bed frame turn into a U-shape. He was followed by Mrs. Weasley who seemed to refuse to look at Hermione at all. Ron put his arm around Hermione and squeezed.
Hermione couldn't help but feel guilty, "I'm sorry."
"I'll get over it," he said.
Hermione felt saddened that she could do nothing to help Ron, but then again she was the one that hurt him in the first place.
Lupin finally walked in, sitting somewhere off to the side.
Now all they had to do was wait.
* * *
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