A Hard Year

19

A/N: Well here's the next chapter and I hope you like it, it wasn't an easy one to write but I got there in the end so I hope it's all been worth it. Thank you all for your much appreciated support it means so much. Sorry for any grammatical errors I was just so desperate to post this I couldn't wait any longer but if it's really horrific I'll edit and repost it. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I Own Nothing.

Hermione's POV

Everything was dark, cold and painful as I slowly began to regain consciousness. My eyes refused to open and a heavy ache had inhabited my arm. There was no light seeping through my close lids, it was just darkness...still evening.

My eyes reluctantly fluttered open as I forced my stiff joints up into a sitting position. I slumped languidly against the kitchen cabinets whilst swinging my eyes around the room...there was no one here. When I tried to stretch my wooden fingers I felt the weak restriction of the dried blood that had encased my pale skin. This brought my attention to the deep scarlet stains that had sunken into the white fabric of my blouse.

The knife lay forgotten on the kitchen floor...

The cut that I had made in my arm was not deep enough to cause a serious damage which made me feel relieved and frustrated at the same. All I wanted to do was slip back into the unplagued world of sleep and forget about what lay outside of it.

A soft chime began to echo around the room and my eyes darted straight up to the clock. Eight O'clock...Ginny would be back soon. The last thing I needed right now was Ginny storming in and finding me like this, so I decided to pull myself up off of the floor.

I winced in pain as I applied the slightest amount of pressure to my arm to gain enough leverage to lift myself. My bones felt like splintering wood as I stretched my legs out in front of me. I slowly made my way over to the sink and proceeded to twist the smooth metal tap until a gush of cold water came hammering down into the sink. Once I had adjusted the tap I dampened a kitchen cloth and slowly began to clean my bloodied skin. The water gently persuaded to hardened blood from my arm and soothed the pain that resided there.

Once I had dried the water off I managed to find a small bandaged in Ginny's first aid box, which she insisted everyone should have. Once I had changed out of my clothes I decided to go down to dinner. It was dark and lonely up here and all I wanted was to try and repress all of the pent up feelings that had found their way to the surface a few hours ago.

I stood in front of the bathroom mirror struggling to recognise the reflection that was staring back at me. I tried to remember what my body had looked like before all of this so I closed my eyes as tightly as I could and willed with all of me that when I opened them I could see myself how I used to be, just for a second. Disappointment soon followed.

Once I had tied my hair back in a loose pony tail and washed my tear stained face I left the apartment.

The Great Hall was warm and filled with happy conversation and laughter and everything seemed a bit better until I accidentally met an intense grey stare. I wanted to tear my eyes away as soon as they met with his but it was as though we were magnets, forcing one towards the others.

It was only when I saw him beginning to get up when I pulled my gaze away and hurriedly made my way over to Ginny at the Gryffindor table.

"What's got you so out of breath?"

She asked, clearly noticing my somewhat flustered state.

"Oh nothing...just rushing I guess."

She nodded and then returned to her food.