Healing the Broken

Chapter 9- Hermione Pities Filch

Harry had searched for Hermione later that day, but she had been no where in sight. She wasn't at dinner either, and Harry and Ron were starting to get worried. Before, when she had been avoiding them, people had still caught glimpses of her, seen her in class, and tried to catch her attention before she went up to the dormitory. But she wasn't seen anywhere.

Harry was desperate, he wanted more than anything to talk to her. The idea of her liking him was huge, almost to big for his little brain to handle. He had wanted to talk to her as soon as he was done talking to Malfoy, though when he started to search he couldn't find her anywhere.

About an hour into searching, he realised that Draco was no longer at his classes either, and he, as well as Hermione, was no where to be seen. Harry had searched the whole day to the point where if you looked out the windows in Hogwarts you would see the dark sky blanketing the castle grounds, and the moon casting shadows onto the ground.

Just as he was ready to give up and call it a day, Harry heard some gossip from Parvati and Romilda and decided to ask them some questions.

"She was in the bathroom crying." Parvati said. "I went in there to wash my hands after Herbology and I heard crying, so naturally I asked who it was. She said her name, and that she really didn't feel like talking. When I went in there again to use the bathroom later, she was still in there, but that time she talked to me."

"What did she say?" Harry asked, his heart thudding against his chest.

"She said that she was upset and she was mad. Someone had told the person she liked that she had feelings for him, I think she said it was Draco who told, and that she felt to embarrassed to see anyone at the moment, but she appreciated me listening." Parvati reported, almost word for word.

"Thank you." Harry says quickly before running out the portrait hole. Now, thanks to Lavender, all he had to do was- check every single girls restroom in Hogwarts.

Brilliant.

He finally found her in the bathroom right next to the stairs that lead up to the owlery, and that was only because she had been walking out. She would have had only a few minutes to get to the common room before she broke curfew, but she didn't look like she cared too much.

As soon as she saw him she tried to change directions, but he had grabbed her hand and spun her around to face him. He was panting, for he had had to run to catch up to her. She was faster than he had previously thought.

"Hermione Jean Granger!" Harry panted. "I have been looking for you all day! Do you have any idea how worried I've been? I haven't seen you all day, you weren't in your classes and you weren't at lunch, and I kept looking for you and asking people if they had seen you and they said they hadn't, and I wouldn't have even found you now if it wasn't for Parvati-" he takes a deep breath. "Hermione, why did you just disappear like that?"

Hermione's mind echos with her earlier conversation with Draco.

She hurriedly shoved her now completed Potions essay into her bag. If she didn't hurry, she was going to be late for Charms, and she was planning on sitting next to Harry and Ron again, just like the good days. It felt good to be able to say that she was no longer avoiding them.

Just as she closed up her bag and put it over her shoulder, she turned around to see Draco running into the library. He too had a bag over his shoulder, and he was panting from running. Why did people always seem to be running when they came to her? Surely whatever they had to say wasn't that urgent.

"Granger I'm sorry." was the first thing that came out of his mouth. "I didn't really think about what I said until after I said it, and by then it was too late. But Potter wanted to know who it was and he was being so clueless that I wanted to shove it in his face, but when I did I realised that I probably shouldn't of said anything-"