Say You Love Me

{11}

Hermione was kind of excited for the upcoming wedding. When she weighed the good and the bad, it came out on top and put her in a good mood. When she thought of Ron and his new girlfriend, well, that weighted things a little heavier towards bad. But, she had heard from Ron himself that Pansy was 'very interesting' and that she had an 'intriguing' personality.

And if it went that far, their children would even be pureblooded! She couldn't even remember the last time they'd talked about having children together. Maybe they'd been drifting apart for a lot longer than Hermione had realized.

Not that it mattered these days, but people did tend to frown when there was a pureblood union. It didn't always bode well for those who remembered the stigma of Voldemort's reign. Which was almost everyone. Their union would have been much more favorable, but she was trying to wane herself off of thoughts like that.

Hermione felt everyone else's lives around her advancing at light-speed.

At least she had Luna who had wanted to see her since it had been nearly a month since her diagnosis, and she wanted to confirm that Hermione didn't want to attempt the flower's removal.

Back in the office with all the puffskeins attempting to lick her, Hermione let her head fall against the wall. Her head was swimming with various emotions, including her feelings for Severus, her feelings about the people in her life moving forward, and the way her own life was inevitably stuck for the next year and eleven months.

"Hermione?"

"Yeah?" She replied loosely, and almost as if she could sense the negative thoughts, Luna walked in with concern on her face and her wand at the ready.

"You shouldn't let the wrackspurts get so heavy, Hermione. They will weigh you down."

Smiling hollowly, Hermione sat up and looked at her friend saying, "I don't think it's the wrackspurts, Luna."

"Harry is getting bonded, Ronald is dating Pansy... I'm assuming you know Ginny and her Quidditch ex-Captain have been getting along pretty well."

Hermione groaned.

"Why won't you tell anyone?" Luna wondered after a slight pause, wand still poised to cast a few charms.

"I don't want to burden them with the knowledge. How would Harry have a happy wedding if he knew I was dying? Ron certainly wouldn't have the nerve to move on if he knew, and I don't need the publicity."

"Have you told Severus?"

Hermione answered with a shake of her head the answer almost shameful.

"I see," Luna muttered, "Here." She reached out for a puffskein and handed it to Hermione without hesitation. What was the little ball of fluff supposed to do for her?

Then, she realized as she felt a few spells hit her chest, nearly paralyzing her entire upper body accept her hands which gently grasped the little animal.

"You're not progressing at an exponential rate which means my original prognosis holds true. How are the petals, still at only one?"

Hermione breathed in deeply, the release of charms causing her chest to constrict painfully. She wished she was at the beach where not a single wave of fits had hit her. And it was odd, that whenever she was at the coast with Severus, she never coughed up even half a petal... or even coughed.

"Luna," she realized suddenly, "When I'm at the sea I don't get any of my symptoms. Severus lives on the sea, where Harry's wedding is going to be," she was rambling now, but her mind was racing, "I don't get anything when I'm there."

"Interesting," the blonde muttered. "So when you're on the coast you don't feel the tickling, no coughs, and no petals coming up?"

"No."

There was movement, and Luna began to stare off, seemingly her way of thought.

Hermione almost fell over with shock when the witch became animated again.

"Is anywhere else like this?"

"No, just the sea," Hermione replied slowly, wishing she knew what was going on in that head of Luna's.

"I am very glad I was invited to the bonding then, I would like to put a couple observation charms on you while we're there."

"Okay," Hermione said fluidly, "Could I... Could I possibly live longer if I lived on the beach?"

Luna frowned.

"Well, I don't entirely know what is happening at the water front that makes your symptoms go away. You could still be growing flowers just without you noticing."

"Should we do this sooner than the wedding then? I kind of would like to know what is happening. I don't know how I'll explain it to Severus, but-" she was halted by a stern Luna, something never to be countered.

"Hermione... I hate to bear bad news, but I believe that we should wait. Considering you chose not to remove the flowers, there is no foreseeable way to stop them from overtaking your lungs. Therefor, if you don't want to arise suspicion, then we must wait until the bonding. Otherwise, we must tell Severus Snape. He is an extremely smart man, Hermione, he will know something is going on, and Obliviate is only so strong a spell."

"Can't we go to another place on the beach?"

Luna shook her head.

"To be honest, I want to wait. Delaying a few weeks won't hinder you any healing that could take place, I promise, if that's what the beach is doing. Besides, you have only been a few times, I imagine. It could just be coincidence."

Hermione sighed in disappointment, realizing she'd not let the puffskein free yet. She lifted her hands and it vibrated quickly, sinking into her lap then looking at Luna expectantly.

She returned it to it's place and took Hermione's hand.

"I know all of this is hard, but I really feel like you should tell someone regardless. Harry would understand... he's one of the kindest people on this planet."

"Besides you," Hermione told her confidently.

Luna grinned.

"So we wait for the wedding to find out if I should retire to a beach house?"

A giggle accompanied her reply, "Yes. We wait."

"Okay... thank you, Luna."

"Anytime, you know that. I also seriously recommend you get the wrackspurts cleared out from your headspace, and soon too."

Hermione sighed, of course there would be something that Luna would come up with that just didn't make sense... but it couldn't hurt.

It had to be her dying that made her even consider a wrackspurt extraction.

She went to someone who cleared wrackspurts anyways, finding the process calming and relaxing. Hermione didn't want to dwell on the inevitable anymore because, she too, felt like she might just be fishing for something that wasn't going to come. There was no way just plain old sea air was healing her curse. It had to be relieving the pain for some reason, but her fear of telling anyone else made her want to very much hope that it could be the cure. Maybe she really did need to just cash in on her Order of Merlin stipend and retire early, bound to the water and inclement weather.

Or maybe... she just needed to see Severus.