Amour

AFFLICTION

Sirius.Her godfather.The handsome man with a curly mane of black hair.Sirius smiling widely at Hermione.Giving her a hug.Hermione ruffling the same curly black fur of the dog.The dog protecting her from the werewolf.The man protecting her from the death curses flying past at the ministry.A jet of green sparks hitting him squarely in the chest.Sirius giving a last smile to Hermione as he fell behind a framed curtain and was seen no more."No....no...Sirius."Hermione muttered."After all this is over,we'll be a proper family."Sirius's false promise ringed in her ears.Voldemort's laughter echoed through the icy blackness of Hermione's mind.It was laughing at her mockingly."It's not about how you are alike,Hermione,it's about how you are not."Dumbledore's words gave her strength.Her consciousness was coming back and then fading."She must be traumatised.She keeps shaking and muttering in her sleep."She couldn't really say for sure who had spoken but the next voice was all too familiar,a deep voice that was now etched with concern."Give her a potion for dreamless sleep."Someone held her head up and tipped a vial in her mouth.She fell back into blackness.Images flashed past again.She hugging Ron after he was unpetrified.She and Harry running around in circles trying to catch the other.She and Ginny sharing a laugh.She holding Neville in a side hug to cheer him up.Luna pointing out that Voldemort would try to get her isolated,because when she is alone,she's not much of a threat.She thinking how cool Luna really is.She then saw,her parents smiling down at her sympathetically and they were now joined by Sirius.Her mother extended her hand for Hermione to take.She wanted to ,but hesitated.She felt someone calling her from the other side."He really loves you,you know."Sirius's voice resonated."I know."she repeated and with tears in her eyes,she turned away from them and ran to where that voice was coming from.She had to find him.She had to reach him.........................................
Snape held Hermione's hand as she lay in the hospital wing and brought it to his lips.He pressed it to his cheek and pleaded,"Please come back to me,Hermione.Please..."Tears rolled down his cheeks and as soon as they cane in contact with Hermione's hand,she stirred.Snape sat up in his seat as she slowly opened her eyes and they were her usual hazel colour."How are you feeling?"he asked drying his eyes.Hermione ignored any concern for herself and only one word escaped her lips,"Sirius..."Snape looked down,unable to decide how to give her the news.But she didn't need him to.She had seen it with her own eyes,but she was still working on believing what she saw.Her last family member,dead.Another loved one,taken away from her.Another person whom she cared about,gone.She looked at the beds adjacent to hers.Her friends,whom she had involved in this battle.Her comrades whom she had foolishly lead in a near-fatal experience."They are allright.Just resting."Snape assured her as he saw how her expression changed when she looked at her friends sleeping in the hospital beds,their wounds bandaged up.Hermione leaned her head back onto the pillow,staring off into space, and tears seeped out of her unblinking eyes.He was going crazy as he wanted her to say something--anything.Somehow, her silence seemed more dangerous to him than if she had cried her eyes out and wailed and bawled.He put her hand back where it was and quitely stole out of the room.He knew that she would never be the same again..................................................
The next day,Madam Pomfrey had made them stay in the hospital till the night and as Snape entered with some food for Hermione after he had his own dinner,he saw her sitting up in bed,propped up by some pillows and Neville was sitting at the foot of her bed,rambling on to try to cheer her up."We'll have a feast,we'll hold a memorial for Sirius and celebrate your birthday on the same day.I'm sure Sirius would have wanted you to be happy.We'll all come and you won't feel his absence-""I appreciate your effort Neville but I'm really not in the mood to celebrate."Hermione snapped,although trying to be polite.But Neville continued,standing up and gesturing with his hands."We'll have fireworks.Fred and George have some really good products and don't worry, we'll invite Professor Snape too.And if he refuses to participate in the games and festivities,we'll set off bombs in front of his room.Boom!Bang!Wha-a-a-"he stopped as he turned around and bumped into the black figure standing behind.He gulped as he looked up at Snape who was glaring down his nose at him."Sorry Neville,you were saying..?"Hermione teased."N-n-nothing."he stuttered."Mr.Longbottom,I suggest you go back to your dormitory.Ms.Granger needs to rest and I would not have the likes of you irritating her.Am I clear?"Snape said silkily."Crystal clear,s-sir.G-good tight.I-I mean..I wanted to say goodnight but in the middle I changed my mind to say sleep tight and it came out all w-wrong.Good bye."he stumbled all the way out of the room as he broke into a run.Hermione smiled a little but again fell back into melancholy.Snape set the plate of food down on the bedside table,"I thought you'd like to have something other than horrible hospital food."But Hermione jumped down from the bed."I'm not hungry."she said and put on her slippers."But you haven't eaten anything since yesterday-"he protested."I swear to God,Professor Snape,if I put a single morsel in my mouth I'm gonna be sick!"she said frustrated and he dropped it."I just want to go from here.Can I stay with you tonight?"she asked."Sure."He said and escorted her to his room.
As they lay down in bed,the gates of Hermione's eyes finally opened up and she let it all out.He wrapped his arms around her as her body heaved with enormous sobs."He said he was proud of me.He appreciated what I had done with the DA.Those were the very last words he ever spoke to me."she told him."And then Bellatrix's curse hit him out of nowhere.He...he fell behind a curtain and..just like that..he was gone.""Ssh..Hermione.Don't think about it anymore."he rocked her slightly."I hate her!I hate all of them.Draco's father was there too.He accidentally destroyed the prophesy.But not before I came to know what it said.Dumbledore also said that the secret weapon I possess is love. But its all bullshit.Voldemort can kill me if he wants.I don't care anymore-""How can you say such a thing?Don't you care about me?Don't you love me?"Snape asked incredulous,but he wasn't really angry at her,he knew it was only her grief talking."Everyone I care about end up dead.Or hurt.You should stay away from me.Otherwise...you'd die too."Hermione whimpered."Nothing can make me stop loving you."he said firmly.Hermione snivelled on and he stroked her hair."It's so unfair."she said sometime later."It's the way life is.Its okay."he said."It's not okay."she weeped.He sighed,"I know,but it is what it is."She cried convulsively all night and he stayed up with her to soothe her lamentation."You know you are pretty much the only thing that is preventing me from breaking down into a million shards of glass."she said before succumbing to an exhaustive sleep at the break of dawn.He had a way of holding her that was caring and arousing at the same time.But mostly she felt more at home in these arms than she did anywhere else.And with that feeling she finally forgot for the time being about her loss and contemplated over what she had.