Forever x Always

Hermione couldn't stop crying as she ran up to her dormitory. How could she let Ron know that she cut herself? She was especially surprised that she had the spur of the moment courage to show Ron affection the way that she did.

Hermione threw herself onto her bed as soon as she arrived in the dormitory. She cried into her pillow for a while. She looked at the clock. It was only 9:30. The others wouldn't be back until midnight, so that gave her a decent amount of time.

She removed her head from her tear-stained pillow stuck her hand inside of it. Hermione felt around until she grasped her pack of blades. She violently ripped them out of the pillow. Hermione also pulled out the notebook and pen. She forgot to grab the towel and wristband.

Hermione couldn't take it anymore. She took out a random blade from the pack. As much as she hated doing this, she didn't care anymore. She didn't care if she died, nor did she care who found her.

Hermione was so upset with everything that she forgot to silence the area that was her bed. She did, however, remember to shut the bed curtains.

Hermione violently shoved the blade against her wrist. She dug it deep into her skin. Blood already started to creep out past the blade. She carelessly tore the blade across her scar ridden wrist. Blood gushed out, the worst that Hermione had ever done. Cuts that were starting to heal ripped open once again. Blood poured down her arm and onto her red blankets, but Hermione neither cared nor noticed. She wanted to stop, but wanted to keep cutting more. The latter part of her took over. Hermione blindly and viciously forced the blade into her skin and ripped it across, over and over again. Blood splashed in waves onto her bed.

Soon, Hermione felt lightheaded. She fainted.

***

Harry retrieved Ginny from the Great Hall. He told her that he thought something might be wrong with Hermione, and she followed him. He casually left out that she was a cutter. They rushed up to the Gryffindor common room. Ron had already gone up earlier.

"She wasn't in here when I came up," he said. "I think she might have just gone to bed."

"Okay," Harry replied. He turned to Ginny. "Do me a favor. Check on Hermione for me. Ron and I will wait down here. Come back and tell us how she is."

Ginny turned to the stairs. She went over to the dormitory door. "Hermione?" Ginny called when she entered the room. The lights were on, but no one was in the room.

Ginny saw that Hermione's bed curtains were drawn shut.

"Hermione, are you sleeping?"

Ginny pulled back the curtains of Hermione's four-poster bed. She almost fainted from seeing the sight in front of her. Hermione was laying face down on the bed. Blood covered her hair and new dress robes. She looked dead. All Ginny could do was scream at the top of her lungs. She raced back downstairs to the common room.

"Ginny, what happened? We heard you scream!" Harry said, jumping out of the chair.

"Her-Her-Her-," Ginny stuttered.

"Hermione? Is there something wrong with Hermione?" Ron asked, leaping out of his chair.

Ginny just nodded, and ran back up to the dormitory. Harry and Ron followed. The spell that turned the girl's staircase into a slide when boys go up must have understood that it was an emergency because a slide never formed.

Ginny made it there first and almost broke the door down. Luckily, none of the other girls had arrived early.

Harry had to stop Ron from running out of the room after he saw Hermione.

"Ron! We need to get her to the hospital wing!" Harry yelled.

Harry and Ron picked up the limp Hermione, Harry holding her legs and Ron holding her shoulders. Ginny led the way to the hospital wing. Ron was barely watching where he was going. He just stared at Hermione's blank face, and tears welled up in his eyes.

The boys made their way up the staircase and down the hallway to the hospital wing. Ginny was running so fast that the boys could barely keep up. Soon, Ginny ran out of sight. Harry and Ron tried their best to run up after her. As they approached the hospital wing, the boys could hear Ginny screaming.

"She's dead!"

"Who's dead?" asked Madam Pomfrey.

"Hermione! She's dead! Someone killed her!" Ginny yelled, pointing at the boys as they walked in.

"Oh dear," whispered Madam Pomfrey and she helped Harry and Ron get Hermione on a bed. "One of you, go to that cabinet over there and get me two bottles of the red blood restoration potion. Now!"

Madam Pomfrey picked up Hermione's limp arm and wiped the blood away. She saw the cuts and scars on her wrists.

"I have good news and bad news," said Madam Pomfrey as Harry brought her the bottles. "The good news is that she isn't dead and wasn't murdered. The bad news is that she did this herself."

Ginny let out a scream at the top of her lungs. She started to run to the door, but Harry stopped her by pulling her into a hug. Ginny tightly squeezed Harry and cried into his shoulder.

"No! She didn't!" she cried.

"Ginny, she was a cutter. Didn't she tell you?" Harry asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"Madam Pomfrey poured one of the bottles into Hermione's mouth.

"What? I don't believe it! She would have told me! She told you?" raved Ginny, pounding on Harry's chest.

"Yes, I knew. But I couldn't stop her. Ron might have been able to..." Harry trailed off.

"Her heartbeat is normal!" cheered Madam Pomfrey as she finished wrapping Hermione's wrist in bandages.

"How could I have stopped her? I didn't even know until Harry told me!" hollered Ron, stopping his pace around the room.

"Ron, are you that fucking dense?" Harry yelled, letting go of Ginny. "I overheard her telling you. She is head-over-heels in love with you, Ron. Everyone can tell, except for you. She's told you. I've told you."

Ron looked down to the floor.

"Ginny, let's go," Harry said, and he led Ginny out of the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey had disappeared into her office after finishing up the bandages, but reappeared after Harry and Ginny left. "Five more minutes, dear," she said to Ron.

"You don't happen to have a quill and some parchment I could borrow, do you?" Ron sheepishly requested.

"There should be some in that drawer with some ink," she replied, pointing to the table next to Hermione's bed, then retreated to her office, muttering to herself. "Never in all my years...Can't believe...Such a nice girl...Doesn't deserve..."

Ron went to the drawer and pulled out the items. He scrawled a quick note and then crumpled it up. Without looking at the sleeping Hermione, he placed it into her palm and went back to the common room.