Neville woke up the next morning, with a slight crook in his neck. That hadn’t been the best night of sleep he had and for a moment he wondered what the heck he was doing in the greenhouse. That is until he suddenly remembered, and though the tears tried to come again he stayed strong.

He got up and stretched and straightened himself out before making his way back to the castles. He hoped that he wouldn’t run into anyone, he wasn’t in the mood to talk at the moment.

He made his way to the Gryffindor tower without much trouble but that ended the minute he entered the common room. The common room was full, which was a little surprising since most time everyone would be at breakfast. What were they all still doing in here?

 He hadn’t spoken to anyone since yesterday morning and he didn’t feel up to talking to anyone. They were looking at him like he knew something; he shrugged before turning to walk up the stairs. He stopped however when he heard someone call his name.

“Neville where were you?” Dean asked quietly.

Neville shrugged, this was weird. Many times he had gone off and no one bothered to ask where he was except Harry. But now Harry was gone, and he had no one else to confide in. He stared blankly at his dorm mate before continuing his trek up the stairs, ignoring the whispered conversations about his strange behavior.

He was used to it anyways, so it was nothing new to him. He opened his dorm and silently entered making a point not to glance in the direction of Harry’s bed. He did see Ron who was still sleep; tear tracks evident on his face.

Neville turned his suddenly watering eyes to the ceiling, overcome with sudden grief. He couldn’t handle this, why did Harry have to do it?

He clenched his jaw before grabbing his towel and heading towards the shower. He wasn’t going to cry over this. He had learned early on that tears didn’t do a thing. Tears didn’t bring his parent’s minds back, nor would they resurrect Harry from the dead.

~*~*~*Room of Requirement~*~*~*

Hermione woke up from the sun shining in her face, feeling more refreshed then she had ever felt. She remembered no doubt what they were told yesterday but she wasn’t feeling like she might drown in her grief.

As she got off her bed something red caught her eye, and her breath caught in her throat. Her entire left arm from her bicep to her wrist was littered in single slash marks. She traced them with her fingers, trying to remember doing this but she couldn’t. Although she did remember wanting to die, and then feeling at peace, were these the cause of that?

She shook her head, not wanting to think about that before tugging on her robe. As the fabric rubbed against her arm; it made the cuts sting and she winced. Walking out the room she bit her bottom lip, wondering how she was gonna hide them. She knew that injuries that were self-inflicted took longer to heal then those that weren’t.

They rendered certain healing spells useless. A part of her wondered if a potion could cover it, but she didn’t feel up to making one in Myrtle’s bathroom. That place held too many memories for her to handle it.

Making her way down the steps she was just turning the corner near the great hall when her heart stopped as she caught sight of who was in front of her. Blaize was there at the door, as if he was waiting for someone. Forcing herself to calm down she gave him a tiny smile, which he returned more or less.

“Good morning, how do you feel?” He asked cautiously.

“Better, I feel really good right now.” She replied honestly.

“That’s good to hear,” he said smoothly.

“Are you hungry?” He asked after a moment.

“No, I’m not.” She lied.

“You haven’t eaten since yesterday morning, you’re definitely hungry.” Blaize said firmly.

“I don’t think so; I know my body more than you do.” She stated defensively.

“Fine, don’t eat then. When you pass out, don’t come crying to me.” Blaize said with a shrug before walking in without her. It was a Slytherin tactic and since she was a lion she wouldn’t realize it. He wasn’t really going to give up on her that easily, but she didn’t know that.

Hermione frowned but something compelled her to follow him in. She sighed before taking a seat at the end of the Ravenclaw table where he was currently sitting.

“Don’t be mad, I’ll eat ok,” she said softly. She was hungry but she wasn’t, at the moment her stomach was churning from the fear that he would leave her. Her emotions weren’t in control at the moment, and it scared her. It scared her because of what she had apparently done last night.

“I’m not mad; you’re making me worry about you.” Blaize said quietly before pushing a bowl of fruit in front of her.

“I’m sorry,” she replied quietly.

“Don’t be, just eat alright?” He said taking a bit of toast and looking at her pointedly.

Hermione nodded before she slowly started to eat some of the fruit, making sure that her robe didn’t slide up. She couldn’t stand the fact that she had disappointed someone at the moment. She had told him yesterday that she wouldn’t hurt herself, but she did anyway.

She sighed and focused on her breakfast, not letting her mind wander. Her good mood was slipping anyway, and her arm was starting to itch; only she knew it wasn’t physical. What the hell?

She sighed softly ignoring it in favor of focusing on her fruit like it was the most interesting thing in the world. How was she going to hide this Blaise? He had taken his time out of his day to sit with her, and comfort her and she had gone and done this. What would he think of her now?

Blaize was watching her carefully as he ate, something other than Harry’s death was on her mind that much he knew. That was as far as his knowledge went but he trusted her enough to tell him what was wrong when she was ready.

 He couldn’t fathom what it was so he shrugged and returned to his food. He frowned as he looked around the great hall; various students were missing and where the heck was his head of house? Blaize shrugged he could care less about Snape, but he wanted to know where Theodore was.

“Classes are canceled today,” Blaize said out of the blue.

“Well, I wasn’t going to go if they weren’t.” Hermione replied nonchalantly.

“Really; excuse me if I find that hard to believe,” Blaise said with a shake of his head. Granger was known around the entire school being a stickler for rules, and the only time she was late for a class it was usually the Weasels and Potters fault. He stilled for a moment at that last thought; Potter was dead. He looked at her quickly, since when had she developed such a poker face.

“I’ve been known to skip every now and then.” She said lightly, inside was a different story. She couldn’t do this; she couldn’t sit here and pretend that everything was alright when it clearly wasn’t. How did people deal with grief?

Was she gonna get the chance to say goodbye to Harry? Did wizards even have funerals? So many questions and she didn’t know who to ask. She sighed quietly before looking up to find a pair of worried brown eyes looking back at her.

“I’m sorry if I upset you,” Blaize said softly reaching for her hand on the table.

“You didn’t upset me, I was wondering about something. Do you know if wizards have funerals?” Hermione asked softly.

“We do, I’m sure that Dumbledore will make sure that Harry gets one. You deserve to say goodbye,” Blaise said quietly as he rubbed soothing circles into her hand.

Hermione stilled for a moment, the hand he had grabbed was the one with the cuts on it. She resisted the urge to snatch her hand away from him, not wanting to make him suspicious. She gazed around the great hall, it looked kind of empty.

“Where is everybody?” She murmured.

“I don’t know, I was wondering the same thing,” Blaise replied as he finished up his breakfast.

“Can we go for walk again, or sit by the lake or something?” Hermione asked after a moment. She wanted that sense of peace she got yesterday for him, before the urge to hurt herself again took over all thought.

“We can, I just need to check on someone for a moment. Is that alright?” Blaise asked intending on speaking to Draco who had just walked into the great hall.

“That’s fine, I’ve gotta go to the bathroom anyways,” Hermione said slipping her hand from his and standing up.

Blaise looked at her closely; he had a feeling that she wasn’t being quite truthful. But he brushed it off as her wanting to have a girl moment and nodded before making his way to the Slytherin table.

Hermione watched him go as she made her way out the great hall, she shook her head sadly as she walked into the girls bathroom and into a stall. She blinked back the tears as she sat on the closed toilet seat before conjuring up a razor.

“I thought Slytherins tended to read in between the lines.” She said softly to herself before she lost herself in a battle against grief and pain.