The Light

Chapter 24- The Wolf

Sirius remained with her, even as the sky outside grew dark. He climbed into the bed, and had his arm wrapped around her, and Hermione snuggled into him as their conversation slowly melted into trivial nonsense.

It was much later on, after hours of laughing at James' face when he was suspended upside down, to chatting aimlessly about nothing important, that Sirius turned to her, his face solemn.

She held her breath.

"Why did you jump in front of the spell?"

It was something that had been eating away at him ever since it had happened. The guilt had pained him, a nagging feeling that threatened to choke him. Although he hadn't known her long, Sirius didn't know what he'd do if something happened to her. Especially if he was the one responsible. It might've been her eyes, the way they seemed to understand the soul they looked into, or her laugh, that never failed to make him smile, but Sirius Black knew that he would go out of his mind if anything happened to Hermione Granger.

"I thought he was someone else," Hermione said faintly. She couldn't bear to look at him.

Sirius licked his lips and tilted his head further down to watch her as he asked gently, "Someone else?"

She turned her head away from him. There was indecision bubbling inside of her. She'd spoken of Harry. Hell, she'd even spoken of Ron, and those two boys meant more to her- mean more to her, than anything else in the entire universe, in the entire fabric of time. If she could talk about them, why was her tongue glued to the roof of her mouth? Why was her mind not working?

Why was she finding it so hard to talk about Draco Malfoy?

Hermione dragged her eyes up to Sirius. "I never told you how I got here," she said. "Did I?"

"No," he replied. "You didn't."

Hermione breathed in shakily. The whiteness of the Hospital Wing faded away, trickling into the ruin of stone and the pungent stench of death was heavy in the air.

She remembered running away, after seeing the body of the boy she had loved more than herself. She remembered him finding her, saying her name, mouthing something she couldn't quite catch, before he was falling and falling and falling and-

"Hermione."

Sirius wrenched her out of her mind. Hermione swallowed, willing her strength to return. She felt weak, but she had to say it. She had avoided it for so long, too long.

"Harry died."

Those two words echoed through the room, long after she had said them. It was hard enough already- she couldn't do this! - and yet, she hadn't even started.

"I ran away. I knew we'd lost and I couldn't stop falling apart and Ron was already gone and I ran to the only place I could think of. The Room of Requirement. Only I wasn't the first person there..."

("Hello Granger.")

"He was there. Hiding, for his life, from his life... I have no idea..."

Sirius was watching her carefully. "Who was? Who was there, Hermione?"

She swallowed. The words froze her brain and as soon as they touched the air, she grappled in desperation to take them back.

"Draco Malfoy."

("Draco."

"Don't do that Granger."

"Don't do what?"

"Don't speak to me like we're friends. You know we're not."

"Draco-"