If I Had Made A Different Choice (Completed)

Part 5

During third year she had almost been kissed by a dementor, but she, Harry, and Sirius had been saved by a patronus conjured by Harry after the two of them had gone back in time. That statement still gave her a headache every time she thought about it. That adventure ended with the scary ride on Buckbeak the hippogriff to rescue Sirius, so she had to admit that it had a happy ending also.

Fourth year. Hermione sighed. There had been several bad times there. Harry's name coming out of the Goblet of Fire. The screaming match with Ron the night of the Yule Ball was bad, but up until then that had been a great day. The worst had been the night of the third task. When Harry was taken away as he completed the task and had been forced to watch as Cedric was killed and Voldemort reborn, then barely survived a duel with the risen dark lord to escape back to Hogwarts. What a horrible experience. She knew it still gave him nightmares. Yes, those things had happened to Harry, not to her, so technically it wasn't her bad day. But she certainly anguished enough about him for it to count as an awful day for her, too. Definitely in the top three.

Fifth year she had almost been killed again, this time fighting Death Eaters with Harry at the Department of Mysteries. Up until today, she would have considered that one the worst. Definitely the worst for Harry. After her injury he had watched as his godfather was killed right in front of him. Then he had been possessed briefly by Voldemort. And then when he had been returned to Hogwarts, on top of everything else he had been informed of the prophecy that he would have to be the one to destroy the dark lord or die trying. Hermione didn't blame him one bit for trashing the Headmaster's office after being hit with all of that in succession.

It did not escape her notice that every one of these disastrous days had involved Harry Potter in one way or another. For five years, his fate and hers had been so closely intertwined that his misery was also her misery. And in a way, that was part of the problem now, too.