Hermione was curled up in an old worn and battered armchair near one of the fireplaces at Number Twelve Grimmould Place, sobbing She had been like this for hours now, stopping occasionally, when no more tears would flow, to simply stare into the flames.

'It can't be true. NO!' she thought to herself. 'News will come back that he's made it safely, that's he's alright.'

"Hermione? Hermione, is that you?" someone called, the sound of their footsteps echoing in the connecting corridor off to the side, accompanied by another set of footsteps as well.

"Leave me alone!" she sobbed out.

Harry's head appeared in the doorway, looking around at first before catching sight of his broken friend and coming in, followed by Ron.

"Hermione, You Need to get some rest. You're tired and it's really taking a toll on you," Harry said as he walked over.

"You need to go upstairs and get some sleep. You're just going to make yourself sick if you keep this up,"Ron put in, coming up beside Hermione, putting a hand on her arm.

Hermione jerked out of his grasp in response. "Just go away unless you're here to tell me that he's fine and that he's going to survive. That's he's OK. If you're not here for that then there's no reason for you two to be in here," she shot, breaking back into sobs, hiccuping in between every few words, curl up further, her back turning towards the boys, hiding her face and the tears that continued to flow from her eyes.

"Hermione, we all knew that he wasn't going to make it, you even said so yourself at first. You shouldn't be taking this so hard. He was just a jerk of a teacher. A FORMER teacher. He HATED us so why do you care so much?" Ron said harshly.

"You wouldn't understand," she said, harshness in her voice. "No one understands."

"Of course we would understand," Harry said back, patting her back gently.

Hermione let out a cold, hard laugh. "Yeah Right!"

"Hermione, 'Mione, tell us and we'll understand. We wouldn't judge you for something that you care so much about."

Hermione snapped back around, standing up. Her face was tear stained and her eyes and nose were red. Tears continued to pour from her bloodshot eyes as well.

"You really want to know? Well, I was -am- in love with him. There. Ok? Now it's out there. He never saw it. He never suspected anything different. NO ONE ever saw it! You two, my BEST FRIENDS, NEVER SAW IT! Even though I put all the signs out there. I did everything to get him to notice me for more than just an 'annoying, insufferable, know-it-all Gryffindor' or more than just what little amount of friend ship we had working together in this war! And NOW he's GONE and I'm never going to be complete again. I'm NEVER going to be able to tell him how much I love him. I'm never going to have the chance to know what being with him and loving him openly feels like. NEVER!"

Harry and Ron stared at her blankly in shock as she ran out of the room, sobbing her whole heart, her whole soul and being, out.

She ran. Ran without knowing where. Hot tears stung her eyes, blurring her vision until she simply closed them, giving up, still running, her hands sheltering her face. She just continued like this, running blindly, stumbling, until something wrapped her up in their arms.

"LET. ME...-S-severus?" Hermione looked up at her capturer with wide eyes. "I-I thought that you were gone? How are you here? Alive?" she questioned.

"Let's just call it a miracle for now...quite similar to your love for me, for my love for you," Severus Snape said, smiling down at her.

"Oh, Severus!" Hermione cried, throwing her arms around his neck, sobbing tears of joy onto his chest.