Bring Me Sunshine - Hermione Granger

twenty-four

It was not from Ashley.

Lesbo

There was no name, of course there wouldn't be, who in their right mind would sign their name after an act of bullying. The lump in her throat seemed to get larger and tears pooled in her eyes for the hundredth time in the past couple of weeks, the ball was scrunched up in her hand and she exhaled a shaky breath.

The scraping sound of a stool drew everyone's attention as she stood and grabbed her bag from under the desk, Snape raised his head too but made no comment. Her movement had out all other sounds at rest and she began to stride out of the classroom with her head high but with tears still spilling down her cheeks softly.

"Hutchins." Snape's drawl followed her but she transitioned into a run and took herself further and further away from the dungeons and up into the actual corridors of the school.

Piper wasn't a pretty crier, her face got red and blotched, red rings circled them and her nose turned her into Rudolph. Her hands shook and when it got too much, her soft cried turned into heavy sobs until she was a trembling mess and no longer able to move through her sadness. That full breakdown had only happened once in her life, when she was first diagnosed with cancer. She had excused herself to the bathroom and collapsed in the toilets, eventually found by some seventh-years who were skipping class. When she got outed, she felt close to a full breakdown but she could still walk and her sobs weren't all that heavy.

The heartbreak seemed to be too devastating to put into big actions. She was sure that her life was ruined, it really felt like it as she jogged down the corridor with no destination in mind. It was only when she turned quick around a corner that she was stopped, barrelling into a body.

"Miss Hutchins." A sharp yet composed voice broke out and Piper looked up to see Professor McGonagall looking down at her with her mouth agape, it clamped shut when she saw the state the girl was in. Everyone at Hogwarts knew, including the teachers and McGonagall's eyes softened the smallest bit as Piper's breath got caught in her throat at the sight of the woman in front of her. "Piper-"

McGonagall stumbled back slightly as arms circled her waist and a body was slammed against her own, Piper's head colliding with her chest as she continued to cry into the woman. She stayed still a couple of moments, not moving, no student had ever showed her this much affection except for one back in the 70s that almost pained her to think about. The memory sparked something in her and she slowly looped an arm toward Piper's back and patted her softly, if anything this made her cry more at the comfort.

As much as she wanted to carry on crying into McGonagall's chest, she knew it was barely appropriate and so she pulled back rather embarrassingly with her face still red as she avoided eye contact with the woman.

"Follow me, Miss Hutchins." She said curtly, Piper looked up in shock, surely she wasn't getting a detention. McGonagall only turned and walked off towards the direction of her office and Piper followed with a small frown, trying not to cry even more at the thought of getting a detention for taking herself out of the situation.

The windows of the office were rattling wildly in their frames as Piper walked in and they were splattered with the thick rain that had been pouring down from the sky all afternoon, the room was cold but the roaring grate of fire to the side of the room made it a bit better. It provided warmth to attack the coldness that Piper was suffering from in her heart. McGonagall walked around her desk and settled in the chair behind it before gesturing Piper to sit on the chair facing her on the other side of the desk.

She hastily walked over to it and sat uncomfortably, sniffling and rubbing her nose with her sleeve, the redness of her face after her crying was probably still there but as much as she tried to force it back down, it wouldn't go away.