Till The End | h.p

crashing

The next morning, Hermione wakes up and looks over at Sam who appears to be sleeping still. She pushes herself out of bed and walks over to Sam slightly shaking her. Sam opens her eyes and says nothing but pulls her covers closer to her face.

Hermione kneels on the floor, "What's wrong?"

Sam says nothing but only closes her eyes once again and a single tear falls onto her pillow. Hermione reaches for her hands and holds them.

"Show me."

Without warning, Sam lets it flow to Hermione, almost wishing they could carry it together. Hermione's face scrunches up and a few tears fall before she lets go.

"But- I don't understand, I don't know how to help."

Sam lets one more tear fall, before closing her eyes and curling her body into a ball. Hermione looks around the room, searching for anything she can do.

"Wait here, wait- sorry, I know you're not going anywhere."

Hermione stands quickly and runs into the common room, without thinking to change. She runs past Ron who is still sulking and Harry who is looking at the wall. As they see her run past them they watch her in concern as she stops in front of the twins. They lean down as she whispers something to them. They both look up and between Ron and Harry with a stern glare before following Hermione up the stairs. Harry looks at Ron and jumps off his chair and follows up with Ron right behind him.

As they climb up the stairs, Hermione stops them, "No, not you. You're the ones that caused this. Why couldn't you just..." she lowers her head, remembering the pain Sam felt.

Harry puts his hand on her shoulder, drawing her attention back up to him, "What happened?"

Fred and George walk into her room and Fred sits on her bed while George crouches down to her level. Fred rubs her back and George pushes a stray hairs out of her face. She opens her eyes to look at them and they see how bloodshot they are.

"I'm not a baby," Sam acknowledges, "I just don't want to give into the anger and hurt someone. I'd rather it hurt me than someone else."

"We don't care if you hurt those twats-"

"We'll do it for you, if that helps."

"No, no. That's not what I want. I just want to be alone. There's nothing you can do."

They look at each other in concern before turning back to her, mustering smiles, "There's always something we can do."

"I'm falling in deeper, it won't be a trigger anymore..." she alerts them.

As she speaks, they look out the window and watch as storm clouds begin to form and drops of rain hit the glass. They sit there, at a loss for words. Meanwhile, outside her room, Harry, Ron and Hermione watch as rain begins to fall.

Ron turns back to Hermione, "But we used to fight all the time, she was never this sensitive."

Harry rolls his eyes at Ron's choice of words, but Hermione speaks for him, "Don't you ever pay attention? It's been getting harder for her to control everything. None of this is her fault."

Ron looks taken aback, "I didn't mean it like that! I just-"

"You two need to figure it out and make up... otherwise I'm taking Sam and myself out of the equation. This isn't fair to either of us."

Fred and George stand up and hold out their hands for her to take. She looks at them in confusion, but they each grab one of her hands and pull her up. Fred stands her up and adjusts her into a dancing position. George opens the door slightly and grabs Hermione only and pulls her in, shutting the door on Harry and Ron. With a flick of his wand, George plays one of Sam's favorite songs and the twins begin to dance ridiculously in a joking manner. Hermione catches onto their plan and she too starts to dance horribly. A small smile tugs at Sam's lips and Fred grabs her hand and twirls her before they all dance together.

Harry and Ron look out the window and watch as the rain stops and rays of sunlight begin to break through. Out of curiosity, they open the door and see all four of them dancing together and Sam lets out a breathy laugh as a smile finally reaches her eyes and her light returns. The song ends and she gives them a grateful smile before looking at Harry and Ron, her smile drops. Fred, George and Hermione follow her gaze. Fred and George walk over to the boys and out the door, making sure to slap the back of both their heads. Hermione grabs Sam's hand and pulls her out of the room and down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Sam doesn't shoot the boys any look when she walks past.

They look at each other, still not ready to make up, they turn their separate ways.

For the next few days, Sam doesn't talk to either of them. Keeping herself occupied with schoolwork and her other friends. Harry is constantly looking her direction as his heart aches more and more each day without her around.

He ends up spending an odd amount of time around Neville, who seems to be the only one who isn't upset with him. They both sit at the lake, today.

"Amazing," Neville remarks, once again, as he's holding a jar full of some sort of plant.

"Neville, you're doing it again."

"Oh, right. Sorry. How is Sam doing these days?"

Harry looks at him in confusion, "Uh, fine I guess. We don't really talk much anymore. Why?"

"Well, she's always been really nice to me and I don't know- I think I really like her."

Harry feels a pang of jealousy, "Yeah, it seems like everybody does."

"Do you?"

"What?"

"Do you fancy her?" Neville repeats.

"Uh-"

Before Harry can come up with a lie, Ron and Hermione walk up to him, Hermione steps closer to Harry than Ron.

"Ronald would like me to tell you, that Seamus told him, that Dean was told by Parvati that Hagrid's looking for you."

"Is that right? Well, you- What?" Harry asks in confusion.

"Uh- um," Hermione starts before walking back over to Ron and whispering to him and walking back.

"Dean was told by Parvati that... Please don't ask me to say it again. Hagrid's looking for you." Hermione begins to walk away when Harry responds, "Well, you can tell Ronald-"

Hermione turns and shouts, "I'm not an owl!"

She continues walking past both of them in anger and back up to the castle. Ron glares at Harry before following them. Harry looks defeated before going to search for Hagrid.