ESTRANGED • The Final Installment

Six

The weather got colder and so did Hermione. She barely spoke two words to Harry and me and for a week, she didn't pick up a single book. She hardly ate anything we cooked and then she sat outside all day. She wouldn't speak to me, or look at me.

I tucked her in one night after she cried on my shoulder for hours. I pulled the blankets over her shoulder and noticed a book peeking out from under her bed. I carefully pulled it out, treading carefully as to not to wake her.

Sitting on the floor with my back against the frame, I flipped through the small diary. Hermione's handwriting was always neat but there was no doubt she became more and more angry as she wrote.

My heart tore in two by the time I reached her final entry and I sighed, closing the book. Getting up, I went out to see Harry who was keeping watch this time around. Sitting next to him, I sat the diary in his lap.

"What's this?" He asked.

"Hermione's diary." I told him. He looked at me. "She's done a lot for you, that girl."

Harry handed it back without opening it. "You don't think anything is really going on between us do you? Honestly?"

"No." I shook my head. "It's easy to feel jealous."

"I felt that about you and Ron." Harry admitted. "You two got closer, simply because of the injuries. And... I don't know... it felt like something else that was just getting in the way of us."

"Doesn't it seem like it's just us... getting in the way of us?" I asked, looking at him again.

Harry chuckled. "Yeah. It does."

I smiled a little and held up the diary. "Hermione... has sacrificed more than we knew. And she only has us. I know we can be enough for her in time but... not knowing if Ron is okay is... it's killing her, Harry."

"I know. It's killing me too."

"Hermione has always been certain of everything and not being certain of this..." I sighed. "I don't want that Harry. I want to be certain of as much as I can, and have hope for others."

"What do you mean?"

"Well I know I'm certain of you. I'm certain how much I care about you and I'm certain about my choice to follow you and help. And I have hope that Ron will be alright." I explained.

Harry nodded. "I'm certain Ron will be alright. He's a fighter, doesn't give up easily. It would kill him for his family to hear his name on the radio. I'm certain we will see him again." I laid my head on his shoulder and he continued. "I'm certain Hermione will be okay. And I am certain of you."

I smiled a little.

"Cora..." Harry said. I looked up at him and his eyes shone with an apology. "What happened? At Malfoy Manor when they took you?"

"Harry-"

"I know... I know it's bad. But when I saw you again I knew right away... you had changed. You changed and I couldn't save you. I couldn't stop them."

"I asked you not to."

"Doesn't matter. I'm Harry Potter. I should have done more. I could have stopped him from killing Dumbledore, I could have stopped them from taking you!" He exclaimed.

"Hey, hey shhhh." I rubbed his back. "And then Harry Potter might be dead. And then where would we be."

"People keep sacrificing themselves for me and I don't want that. I want it all to stop. He wants me... not you." Harry said.

I sighed and pulled away a little. Sitting my hands in my lap, I closed my eyes and ignored the ache in my chest as I started from the beginning.

"I didn't eat for the first three days. Simply just wasn't fed." I said. I could feel Harry's eyes on me but I kept my eyes on my hands in my lap as I played with the pages of Hermione's diary. "The fourth day, they brought me out of the dungeon and asked me questions about you. They asked me where you were headed. What your plan was. I told them you were obviously looking for a way to destroy Voldemort. They didn't like that.

"They asked me about the Order. If it was still a thing or had everyone just left because Dumbledore was dead. I didn't know so I told them as such. That was the first time they used the Cruciatus Curse on me."

Harry hand slipped into mine and I squeezed but I didn't look at him.

"They fed me very little after that." I continued. "But I didn't have an appetite after that blasted curse. They used it every day from that point on. Asking me the same question, where were you.

"A few weeks in, Voldemort himself came to see me. He poked around in my head and found nothing. Extremely painful that was, damaging as well. I was paralyzed for two days after that. Because I didn't know anything they were going to kill me. Then my mum gave them an idea.

"They were convinced they would catch you and when they did, based on my memories... they were going to use me, to get you to surrender yourself. But they had to make sure I looked the part so the torture continued. Worse than before."

Harry gently turned my face to look at him, his hand cupping my cheek. I frowned as he brushed a tear away I didn't even know was shed. He was shedding a few.

I let out a breath and clutched his hand on my face as he softly pulled me forward and pressed his lips to my forehead. He rested his against mine and I squeezed my eyes shut, my shoulders deflating as finally, somebody else knew.

"You... you are still alive." Harry whispered.

I nodded. "Because of Draco."

Harry pulled away and I smiled weakly. "I won't fight him... not in this war unless I have to."

"Me too." I agreed.

Harry kissed me softly and I melted into him instantly. Every moment we had counted and I would be holding onto every one of them for as long as possible.

I pulled away gently and wiped away another stray tear. "We need to stop self-destructing, yeah?"

Harry laughed. "Yeah."

I nodded. "Cool. I'm uh... I should get some rest. We move again tomorrow morning."

Harry nodded and I got up.

"Hey Cora." Harry called. I turned back. "Hermione's right. You're alright."

I smiled wide, remembering the first time Harry started to trust me.

"You're not so bad yourself, Potter."

Harry chuckled softly I gently ran my hand through his hair. I noticed how uneven Hermione had cut it. She never finished.

He leaned into my hand softly and I let him linger before pulling away.

I went back into the tent and returned the diary, noticing the Horcrux around Hermione's neck and tears streaming down her face. I gently took it off her and the tears stopped. I put it on myself and got into bed.

Harry knew the story. He knew what happened. Suddenly I felt lighter than I had since I escaped. I looked at Hermione and sighed.

My best friends needed me now.