Broken

"Hermione, why don't you go talk to him?" Ginny asked her friend. They were sitting in the empty Gryffindor Common Room, which wasn't empty because of the time (almost eleven) but because it was Christmas break, and almost everyone had gone home. Hermione, Ginny, Ron, Neville, Harry, two first years and three fourth years were the only Gryffindors that had stayed. The younger students were in their dorm, and the seventh year boys were in theirs, though Ginny knew the boys were still awake. Ginny looked at her friend pleadingly.

Hermione sighed, and said, "You just don't understand, Ginny. It's over. It's just over." There was an obvious twinge of despair in her voice, and Ginny didn't know what to do. Hermione moodily ripped up a little piece of paper and threw it into the fire.

"But Hermione," Ginny said. "It's almost your one-year anniversary. Don't you want to make up before then?"

Hermione stood up suddenly, throwing Crookshanks off her lap. "No, Ginny! You don't get it! Harry and I are done! There is no going back anymore. There is no one-year anniversary. The watch stopped ticking, the clasp on the necklace is broken and it's not going to snow!" She yelled. Ginny had no idea what she was talking about. Hermione grabbed her cloak and stormed out of the Common Room.

As Hermione ran down the halls she heard the Portrait of the Fat Lady call to her, "Why are you crying, sweet? It's Christmas!" Hermione hadn't even realized that tears were streaming down her face, but she didn't want to stop, so she kept running. She was out on the grounds now, headed towards the lake. She knew she shouldn't be out, but she was glad she had left the Common Room, no matter how late it was. She was even gladder she had brought her gloves and a warm cloak; winter nights were obviously cold. Luckily, she could see; the moon had escaped from the sluggish clouds and was bright out.

The weather had been freakish lately, and snow-free. The ground was covered in dirty ice that the weather had refused to cover with snow or fully melt, but instead allowed to turn into slush and back into ice over and over again. The clouds were dark and pretended to offer snow, but they had been doing so for the past couple of weeks, and Hermione knew that fresh snow would not come.

She was at her favorite place on the school grounds, by the lake. Now it was filled with the bittersweet memories of her and Harry's relationship. She couldn't believe that it had only been a year ago that she had first kissed him, right in the spot that she was standing at. It had also been the place that she had given him the watch, and he had given her the necklace.

Come on, Hermione, you don't always have to study, he had told her, had it only been a week ago?

Harry, please, I need to concentrate, she had said to him. Hermione's mind filled with the images of that night.

"It's almost break," Harry says, trying to cajole her. "We can go down to the lake," he adds.

This is where she snaps, she remembers. "Why don't you take Paravati, I saw you flirting with her after class yesterday!"

"What?"

"You practically had your face down her shirt!" Hermione exclaims. Harry was a patient person, Hermione knew that, but everyone has a snapping point, and that was Harry's. "Your crazy! All this studying has gotten to your head," he says, trying to control himself.

"Just because I care about my grades?"

"More than me I guess!" he shouts back. "Maybe I will go with Paravati!"

"Fine!" she shouts. "And you can give her this!" she says, ripping the golden chain off her neck that Harry had given her last year. She feels the clasp break against the back of her neck, and she was glad it did.

She flings it over Harry's shoulder, and he instinctively catches it, his Seeker reflexes kicking in.

"Fine!" he repeats. He fiddles with the watch on his wrist and gets it off. "Its too bad books don't need watches or you could give this to it!" He throws it and it skids to a stop at her feet. Harry spins on his heel and walks away, leaving Hermione crying over books and the broken watch.

Hermione doesn't notice that she's crying again, and she pulls the broken watch out of her robe pocket. It's not really broken, nothing a simple Reparo spell couldn't fix. She wished she could fix things between Harry and her just as simply, but it really is over.

The faint notes of a clock drifted over the lake from the castle, still audible despite her distance from them. She counted to herself as the clock tolled, one, two, three, four...nine, ten, eleven, twelve. She should go back to her dorm, but she didn't want to. Instead she sat with her back up against the willow.

Hermione must have drifted off, because it was almost dawn in what seemed like minutes to her. She got up, and found out quickly that her legs and neck were stiff. What time is it? She wondered. Hermione took out her wand and pointed it at Harry's watch. "Reparo!" She whispered. The hands spun wildly and stopped at five fifteen. The sun would be rising soon, but she doubted it would be a Gryffindor sunrise.

She shivered in the pre-dawn cold, and was glad that she had been dressed warm before she left, and that the weather was so mild.

"Hermione?" she heard a voice say.

She jumped, and saw Harry. Her eyes lingered on him as she noticed he was wearing the sweater he she had bought him, and she realized she was wearing the cloak he had bought her. She didn't know what to say, so she looked away.

"Were you here all night?" he asked her.

She sat down again and said, "Why's it matter?" she asked.

"Ginny told Ron and me that you had ran out, and that you hadn't come back. We've all been going crazy looking for you," he told her, sounding worried. We've all been going crazy looking for you, echoed in her mind. We've all, did that mean he had been worried?

"Yea, well, I was here," she said, not looking at him.

" You must be freezing," he said, taking off his cloak and wrapping it around her. He sat next to her, but didn't touch her. Hermione didn't move away, glad for the warmth of his cloak. She wanted to be with him so badly, but she knew it could never be, not now. He had gone to the lake with Paravati, she was sure he had, and she would never take back a man who cheated. She didn't want to end up like her mother, a fool with one kid and a husband who had slept with every one of his secretaries, and didn't even bother to hide it anymore.

She felt her eyes well with tears at the thought that she could never be with Harry again, and she tried to stop them from falling down her face, but it was useless. She tried to turn away and wipe them off, but Harry saw her.

"Hermione, please don't cry," he pleaded, turning her face towards him, kissing the tears on her face.

She wiggled out of his grasp. "No," she told him. Her voice was choked with tears, and all she could say was, "Paravati. You and Paravati!"

Harry's mouth dropped open, and then he smiled. "Hermione, no, I would never!" Harry told her, and when she looked at him, she knew that he wasn't lying. He pulled something out of his pocket. It was the necklace. He put it on her, and said, "I love you, Hermione, no matter what. Please don't cry anymore." He kissed hair.

"I love you, Harry, I love you," she murmured into his neck.

They both stood up, and Harry said, "We better go back to the castle."

Hermione slipped her hand into his and they walked towards the castle.

Suddenly Hermione stopped. "I almost forgot," she said, slipping the watch out of her pocket. "Here," she said, clasping it to his wrist.

Harry smiled at her, and they both looked out over the lake.

Hermione's breathe caught in her throat as the sun began to rise. It was golden-red, and Harry turned to her grinning. She smiled back, and grabbed him by the sweater. He kissed her softly, and she knew that he was the only person on earth she wanted to kiss.

Harry pulled away suddenly. "What?" she asked.

"It's snowing," he said looking up at the sky in wonder. "It's snowing!"

Hermione looked up at the sky and laughed out loud. "It's snowing!" she repeated. She stuck out her tongue and caught a snowflake on her tongue. Harry picked her up and spun her around.

"Happy Christmas," he said.

"Happy Christmas," Hermione echoed.

They kissed there, under the snow and the red-gold sunrise.