The Centaur Clan

Twelve- Polyjuice

Harry glances over at Hermione, who had been tying wild flowers together into a crown. Though her hands moved swiftly, she bit her lip, and worry covered her face. Harry knew that she was upset about something, he always did, but he could feel her pain too. It'd hurt her to end her relationship with Ron, this Harry knew, and he felt guilty for not feeling as much remorse for ending his own with Ginny.

"Hermione, did you... did you give Alexio our letters?" Harry finally asks.

Hermione nods slowly, keeping her eyes glued to the flower crown as she picks up another flower. "Yes. He said that Ron and Ginny will get them by tonight- his centaurs are faster than owls."

He nods, and sits, watching as she adds two more flowers, pulling tightly on them to make the knots smaller. The thought of Hermione breaking up with Ron rolls through his head over and over, before he finally blurts her name aloud.

"Hermione?"

She doesn't look at him, but flinches when she accidentally breaks one of the flowers. "Yeah?"

"Why did you break up with Ron?"

A lump forms in her throat, and normally Harry would feel terrible for pushing her to talk about something that made her upset, but this time he didn't. Alexio's words had haunted him the past few hours- Hermione was going to die at Rodolphus's hand. She didn't have her wand, and she would be all tied up... the thought made him want to turn his every emotion off, just so he didn't have to feel that way. It hurt too much. But he needed to know everything she was feeling, and everything he was feeling, before she was gone.

"Because I'm going to die, Harry." She says softly. "I thought if I broke up with him, it would be easier than having his girlfriend die."

He frowns. "Are you sure? I mean, wouldn't that hurt more?"

She shrugs. "I don't really know, Harry. All I know is that I'm going to die, and I don't want him to be hurt- I love him too much to want any sort of pain for him. I want him to be happy."

She still loved him, and somehow, the thought hit Harry in the chest, and nearly takes his breath away. He regains himself, but he was confused- why had her words hurt him? It made sense that Hermione loved Ron, it just did. It always had, so why did it bother him now? He tries to shove the thoughts away, and worry about the bigger, more important problem at hand. "Hermione, you aren't going to die."

She pinches her lips together. "I am. Alexio himelf told us, and he said he was completely positive." She lets out a breath, and sets her finished flower crown on a warm rock. "I just hope Rodolphus doesn't hurt you."

Harry shakes his head in disbelief. "How could you be worrying about me, Hermione?"

Hermione turns her head away. "How could I not? I love you so much, and just the thought of you being hurt again..."

Harry could feel his heart swelling with happiness that he knew he shouldn't be feeling- happiness that he couldn't quite figure out why it was there. Hermione loved him. Perhaps she meant as a brother, the way she'd always loved him, but he could feel a desire deep in his heart, a desire for his best friend to love him in a different way. And he needed to express it, but as soon as he opened his mouth, his words left his mind completely. "I... Hermione, I..."

His words had fallen from him, midsentence. They were gone, but hers weren't. "Harry? Are you alright?"

He didn't know what to do, and he didn't know how to tell her that he wanted her to love him in a different way. Maybe if he asked her how she felt about Ron... maybe that would be an easier way to go about this. This was all to new, to strange, for him to just jump to the winds. "Do you love Ron like a... like your brother? Or do you still feel..."