One Mistake

She swam up through pain towards consciousness. She fought for it with unswerving determination. She felt as though there was something she urgently needed to do. Her eyelids felt as though they were weighed down by barbells, but they fluttered open. The first thing Hermione saw was Snape.

Confusion fled at the sight of him. She remembered the terrifying battle, the appearance of the Order. She remembered Snape bundled into a car with her and the reporter. She remembered breezing past admissions in his arms. She remembered the treatment.

Her blood froze at that memory, and her courage failed her utterly. "Please!" Snape jerked, startled. "Please, I can't do it anymore! I'm so tired. It hurts so much. I know I begged you not to let me stop," Snape was trying to interrupt but she talked right over him. "I'm telling you if I have to do one more thing they are going to have to put me in here permanently!"

"Are you done?" he asked coolly.

"That depends, are you going to make me do more?"

"No, and the reason for that is you are finished with the testing. Now, don't you wish you'd let me tell you that right off? You could have preserved the image of perfect heroic courage."

"I'm done?" He nodded. "Then I don't care about images. You can tell the world what a coward I am. I don't care about anything, but no more tests."

"I was teasing. I would never tell anyone you lack courage," he said with surprise. "You are the most heroic person I've ever met." She frowned at him in pure disbelief. "It's true. I know you knew what an extensive inventory of your mind would mean. You are the one who insisted on it. You were the first to realize the need for it. Hermione," he said in the face of her clear unbelief, "most people who start on this course of diacritic inquiry start begging for mercy by the third round. I have never even heard of a patient who held to her course for the full array of tests. I was there while you offered the doctors comfort! If you never did another thing in your life you still would have seemed a miracle to those of us privileged to witness it."

Hermione was silent a long time.

"So, what was the result of the tests?" she asked belatedly.

"You came out perfect, of course."

"Not even a shadow?"

"No."

"I always do well on tests," she said wryly. "I am surprised that I didn't take on some influence though. Isn't it odd? I mean Helotry Runes!"

"I might have said so myself, if I had not witnessed your composure through this ordeal. You have an extraordinary will."

"But I haven't! Really I haven't. I certainly never did before."

"I imagine that the battle you fought did a great deal to hone your focus. You always had it, you know. Without it you would not be the student that you are."

"I...I suppose." She smiled faintly. "Did you bring 'Advanced Potions of the Ancients' for me?"

"What? Oh, I forgot."

"You never forget."

"For pity's sake, I am not a librarian! I do not produce volumes on demand. I said I forgot and I forgot," he snapped.

Hermione just stared at him with wide eyes. He felt like he had killed someone's beloved pet. He pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers and tried to rub the tension away.

"Professor, is this...ah...irritation about the book or something else?"

"Hermione, I apologize. I...."

"Please, tell me what's wrong if you can. I don't want to intrude, but sometimes it helps to just say it. You listened to me all those times. I know it cannot have been fun, but you did."

He sat there thinking. There was no way to tell her the thing troubling him the most. After all, Minerva and he had agreed to keep the whole thing a secret. However....

"Someone died. An ex-Death Eater I knew. There are not many who have the courage to break away once they take the Mark, but he did. Voldemort killed him. He must have done it weeks ago. The body was only found yesterday. I'm afraid I went to the Three Broomsticks and got quite drunk. I'm all out of sorts today."

Hermione said nothing. She just reached out for his hand. She held it for quite some time.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ginny gazed out her window, watching the dark haired boy walk away. A thought was beginning to trouble her. She seemed to pick up a distance between her and Harry, a cooling off. She had never dreamed that the power of a true passion would reach the depths she had experienced with Harry. She had burned, she had craved, and she had needed. None of her novels even approached what she had felt in his arms. Now it was slipping from her grasp.

It was all her parents' fault.

"...can find yourself caught up in a moment and that's when you must...."

"MOTHER! I have been listening for hours! Don't you ever give it a rest?" Tears clung to her lashes. It's so unfair, they are ruining everything.

"Ginny," her mother's voice was beginning to rise. "You have not been listening at all. This is important."

"Harry is important, mother. We are in love."

"I am sure you care deeply for one another...."

"You can't even say it, can you? Love, mother, the word is love." Ginny felt this was the only point that mattered.

"Ginny, you are the one having trouble hearing, likely because you are interrupting every...."

"How do you expect me to listen to this load of...."

"GINNY! If you finish that sentence I will cast a scourgify charm on that mouth!"

"You are always treating me like a child!"

"You are always acting like one!"

"I'm old enough to make my own decisions. Harry and I can run away! Don't you think we won't!"

"Ginny," her mother sighed and put her hand to her face in utter exhaustion. "If you run away to escape the evil tyranny your father and I represent, how long do you think it will take Voldemort to find him?" She used the terrible name deliberately. "Darling, no one has forbidden you to date Harry. No one has tried to sour the glow of young love. This, in spite of the sordid nature of your behavior. NO, let me speak!" She held up her hand to stop yet another interruption. "Under other circumstances we would not have been more delighted at seeing you two together. Yes, even at Hermione's expense. The thing that concerns your father and me is the lack of judgment both of you have shown in the establishment of that relationship. There was harm done that was easily avoidable. Not just to Hermione, either. How much time has he spent with you, now that it is all right to be seen together?"

"That is your fault!"

"Honey, do not underestimate the power of guilt. He at least feels the shame of hurting an old and dear friend."

"You are all on her side."

"You notice I am sitting here with you, not her."

"Because you're my mother!"

"And as your mother, have I ever taken anyone's side above yours?"

"Mother..?" Ginny said uncertainly.

"Oh darling." She pulled her daughter into her arms. "Do you know what I want more than anything?" Ginny shook her head and cuddled against her mother like a child. "I want more than anything to see my children happy. So, you see, I am grateful to Harry because I can see the way you glow when you look at him. I can see the way you smile when he speaks to you. I see all this and want to give you the tools to make your love grow strong and healthy for a long time to come. This is why we did not forbid you to see him. This is also why we have been talking to you so much, even though we can see we are not welcome."

"Oh mum! No! I didn't mean you were unwelcome!"

"Ginny, I have been unwelcome. I do understand. I hated when my mother tried to speak to me about these things. I have not forgotten what it's like, how important it is. My ultimate concern is that you have forgotten that." Ginny rocketed back up.

"How dare you! You're so old you've forgotten what it's like to be in love."

"No Ginny, I haven't. The reason I called the integrity of your love into doubt is that when you begin cheaply, it almost always gets expensive fast."

"Harry loves me! You don't understand."

"Harry loves you and it cost him things you haven't bothered to notice!"

"Fine then! Have it your way! You are unwelcome here."

"Ginny...." It was shaping up to be a long day.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Minerva reached for the pumpkin juice at the same time as Severus. "Oh, dear!" she exclaimed when their fingers collided. Then she glanced around the empty room furtively, but no one else was in the teachers' lounge.

"Oh for pity's sake! Will you get a hold of yourself? If you act like that in company our little pact of silence is doomed," snapped Snape. She ground her teeth and dropped her gaze to the table top. It nettled him endlessly. He rattled the Daily Prophet. "If you have something to say, I'd have a lot more respect for you if you'd just say it, and be done!"

"I find it difficult to believe you would have respect for me under any circumstances, now," she stated with a glare.

"What on earth would make you say that?" he exclaimed, startled.

"Oh, I don't know...you avoid me, cannot look me in the eye, quarrel with everything I say!"

"That's not true." He grunted at her arch look. "That one doesn't count."

"I know you have regrets. I'm sorry. We were both...incapacitated."

"Drunk, you mean."

"As you will. Since we cannot go back, we must go forward."

"So you have said. And I do not avoid you."

"You hid behind the tapestry of Gregory the Grey yesterday, or did Mr. Filch have you cleaning behind all the tapestries?"

"Don't be ridiculous!"

"I only ask because I spotted your boots behind the Tree of Life herbalist's tapestry the day before yesterday."

"I thought I spotted some moth damage! I was just checking to see if the sunlight showed through."

"Clever excuse, but do you really think either of us will buy that?"

"No." He scowled at his toes. Deciding to try to salvage the situation, he dredged up the truth in his heart. "I know we've never been friends. But I always thought I had your respect. Since I seduced you, I could tell you've just been back to seeing the ruthless ex-Death Eater."

"You seduced me? I thought I had seduced you!"

"What? Don't be absurd!"

"Absurd! Well I like that! I'll have you know I am perfectly capable of seducing a man if I put my mind to it!"

"No, I didn't mean...."

"Further," she overrode him, "I definitely was the one to do so that night, as you were too soused to know your own name, much less pull a ruthless Don Juan."

"I beg to differ!"

"Differ all you want, it's true! And what do you mean we've never been friends?"

He groaned. He was enough a man of the world to know he could never win this argument. "Minerva, what do you want from me? I've apologized."

"Endlessly." Frost dripped from her tone.

"What more do you want?" he demanded, frustrated. "Tell me! I was never one who understood the mind of a woman."

"Try less, not more. Less apologizing, less hiding, less regret!" She got up and swept out of the room on that note. Good lord, I think I hurt her pride, he mused, horrified. The conversation swirled through his mind again. She thinks I am unhappy in my choice of lovers. Oh, lord, now what?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The disappointment of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had been difficult to bear. Ron's fury was impossible. Harry walked away from the day's dose of drama at the Burrow and sought out his oldest friend. He was desperate to make amends and this time would not be put off. He suspected that he would be walking back with a broken nose.

Ron was crouched on the bank of a small creek watching a brace of ducks. He had been there almost every day since the rift. "Ron," he began. There was no response. "Ron, please. Talk to me. Yell at me. Hit me if you want."

"Don't tempt me." Ron growled. "Leave me alone."

"Listen Ron, I'm sorry. You have to know I would never knowingly hurt you or your sister. I didn't do this on purpose."

"Didn't you?" He stood, "Well, how many times did you accidentally mess around with her."

Harry looked like a fish as his mouth opened and closed soundlessly. "Erm...." was the best he could manage.

"How many times? You see, it's hard for me to think she would get that far on the first try. So I just wonder, how many times?" He turned back to the water as though disgusted.

"You make it sound like we...we....We didn't get that far!"

"It was far enough!"

"Ron, I knew it was wrong, but...I mean...with things the way they were with Hermione." He broke off when Ron turned on him with fury sparking clearly in his eye.

"And whose fault was that, Harry?" he began dangerously.

"Probably mine. I know I haven't been myself since Sirius died." Sirius had become almost a get-out-of-jail-free card with those who cared about him. "She really helped me through a lot."

"And in return you cheated on her?" Ron said in disbelief. "That's your argument?"

"No! I just meant that I've been going through a hard time and without Hermione I just don't know how I'll get through. I really need her. I knew it was over but I couldn't take the chance she would hate me! What will I do now? There isn't anyone else like her."

"I don't know what you will do now, especially when Voldemort comes after you, which he will. After all, it's Hermione who did the heavy thinking for us. Of course, there is the point that no one on the planet is more fair than Hermione and she wouldn't dream of holding a grudge against a guy just because he broke up with her. And then there is the little fact that she can't help but hate you now as you've given her no choice. And there is one last little thing that probably means nothing to you. She feels awful right now, and she was never anything but loyal to you. But, hey, let's all sit down and cry for Harry."

He stalked past the dark haired boy.

Harry wished Ron had just broken his nose.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ron really did not trust himself to speak to either his friend or his sister. This had changed how he saw them. It took an hour's walk to bring his fuming temper to a point where he felt he could control it. He warily stuck his head inside the kitchen door. Only his mother sat within and, relieved, he entered.

"Hey, mom, are you O.K.?" She looked on the verge of tears to him.

"Oh, yes, not to worry, I'm fine." She smiled wearily at him.

"I don't know why we don't just send him packing," he said, sitting down next to her at the table.

"Ron, they go to the same school, and room in the same House. Your father and I need to get Ginny to exercise her own good sense instead of relying on edicts."

"She isn't showing any good sense where he is concerned. I could watch her for you."

"Every moment of the day? You have your own life, Ron. I don't believe she would pay the least bit of attention to your authority, either. None of you boys ever listened to Percy."

"Well, that's different! Percy is a git." He got up and grabbed the cookie jar.

She smiled, "And how do you think Ginny would describe you just about now?"

Ron paused, flummoxed at the thought. "Well, I suppose," he said reluctantly. "So what do we do now?" He rooted a cookie out of the jar.

"As I said, we teach her to exercise good judgment. Harry as well, if we can. It would help if you kept the lines of communication open. He will need someone to talk to. We certainly don't want to leave any decisions up to him without a counter balance. But it will need to be done in a way that he won't be inclined to tune you out." She accepted the cookie he handed her.

"Neither of them is listening and...I am so angry at him. I can hardly look at him. He's supposed to be my best friend. I brought him into this house! I can't believe he had her shirt off!" Mrs. Weasley winced at the reminder.

"Ron, we cannot afford to isolate them. I know they don't seem to be listening, but they may hear more than we think. I hope they hear more than we think."

"What am I supposed to say to him?" He crunched down on his cookie fiercely

"Just listen to his side and make sure he hears yours. He's a good boy, but I'm afraid his time with the Dursleys has left him 'heart stunted'. He just doesn't know how to lean on his family."

"His family is horrible! Of course he doesn't lean on them."

"We are his family, not them. Your father and I would have adopted him if Dumbledore had allowed it. We had the papers drawn up and everything."

"Really? I didn't know. I guess I just thought you meant him to stay here. I didn't think about the legal part of it."

"Oh, yes, you always thought of him as a brother, and he was family to us almost from the beginning."

"And now he is being such a prat! Ginny too! I don't know what got into her. She used to be so sensible." He paused and confessed reluctantly, "I looked up to her. How could she do this? It's so...so ...ugly, what she did to Hermione."

"She's a romantic. She sees the best in things. She always sees the possibilities but sometimes not the consequences. You have to understand what it's like to be the youngest girl in a family of boys. You experienced how your brothers acted toward you just because you were younger than them. It's worse for her by far. No one wanted to play with her. The only attention she got was when they teased or lectured her. It must have been lonely in this house for her. She is very spirited so she didn't fold under the pressure but became her own person. I am glad too. I like knowing that my daughter will stand up for herself. We just need to make sure she consults that good sense you remember when her romantic heart wants to run away with her."

"How do we do that?" he asked thoughtfully.

"We make sure she knows we love her, support her, and expect her to behave with honor and integrity. Also, we must make sure she understands the value of such things. Childr...I mean the young often see these things as unnecessary boundaries. It takes maturity to value the less attractive virtues. I had thought she had that maturity." His mother sighed. They both sat in meditative silence.

Hidden around the corner, Ginny wept. She was shocked that her mother had understood so much of her heart. She was stubborn enough to hold on to her beliefs, but this overheard conversation had been a blow to her intransigence. She crept away to her room. She hated it, but she was honest enough to realize she had a lot to think about.