I Learned Your Pulse

"Partners?"

"Hermione."

"What, Ron?"

Hermione seemed incapable of putting emotion into her words, but Ron didn't appear to notice. "Look, you're brilliant. You -"

"I suppose I'm 'brilliant' because all I care about is passing classes."

Ron reeled back as if she'd slapped him. "I didn't - Hermione, I... I never -"

"Never? You never?"

Hermione stood, making her chair fall over backwards behind her, and made her way through the clutter to the door, noticing that her hands grew colder with every step.

"Hermione, don't you walk away!"

Harry was standing, too, and angry. "You don't get to walk away this time. Stay here and fix this, you can't stay away from it forever!"

"I can try."

The door slammed behind her and she leaned against it. Tears evaded her. She felt so empty, like there was nothing left to live for.

She had no idea where to go, and didn't know she wanted to go anywhere but away from Ron and Harry. She remembered the cup on the table, still mostly full, and felt guilty for walking out on Hagrid like that. But the guilt vanished quickly into the abyss she had become. It was an odd contrast: The gorgeous night stars that glistened welcomingly from the sky like angels seemed so bright and happy, so cheerful and perfect, so marvelous; whereas she felt dark and depressed, so dull and flawed, so ordinary that she almost had the urge to scream. She began letting her legs move - to where, she did not know, but she closed her eyes, knowing fully well she could run into a wall or another person but not caring.

It wasn't long before she recognized where she was. She wasn't sure what set off the recognition: maybe the precise way her footsteps echoed as they had the six - now seven - years she'd been here, maybe it was the slight smell of metal that barely tinged the air, but whatever it was, it led her to the Gryffindor common room.

The Fat Lady was staring at her inquisitively; she did not know the password. "You know who I am," she said briefly. "Please let me in."

The lady nodded with a small smile, and the portrait swung open to reveal the hole, trhough which she could hear panting and crying.

Not knowing what to expect, she stepped through. The room was clad heavily in gold and red, as always, but from the right, where the girls' dormitory was, she heard the crying loudest, whereas in the boys' on the left she heard hyperventilation, not just the panting she'd heard before. The room was empty; she was the only person in it.

Scared of what was in the dormitories, she backed out and the portrait hole closed. The lady looked at her wiith surprise. "You're not going to help?"

Hermione shook her head. "It scared me."

The lady looked at her like she was insane. "That's not very Gryffindor-like," she acused, sticking her nose firmly in the air and looking away from Hermione.

"Would it be in the manner of a Gryffindor to not care what happened to you if I was to slash your painting?" said Hermione monotonously.

Fat Lady's eyes were still averted, but she saw them shine with a skin of moisture. "Yes. If you'll remember, Sirius Black did it before, that murderer."

"Sirius was innocent. Sirius is innocent. And stop acting all haughty. If you were basically being sent to walk into a place you knew not and fight or beat something you knew nothing of, you'd act the same way."