Author's Note: And here's the next chapter! Also, here's a thought—to those of you who have been following me for a while, how would you feel if I did a re-write of some of my older pieces? I'm also working on some original manuscripts, which I hope to get published later this year.

Defying Gravity
Chapter Six: Nothing to be Afraid Of

"Do I get to say 'I told you so' now?"

"I wouldn't if I were you," Hermione chuckled. "But I do feel better."

"I knew Mom wouldn't be angry," Bill continued on as though he hadn't even heard Hermione's retort at all. He looped his arm with hers as they walked back towards the castle. "She was madder at me for not writing more. See? Everything is going to be just fine."

Hermione found herself leaning against him as they walked. She let out a soft sigh. "I really wish that people would stop saying things like that," she whispered. "But thank you. For everything. Again. I don't think I could have done that on my own."

"You want to know what I think, Hermione?" Bill stopped walking, and Hermione paused to look up at him. She opened her mouth, but Bill didn't give her enough time to respond. "I think you're a lot stronger than you think you are. Something horrible happened, Hermione. But you know, as bad as it seems now, as bad as it is, things won't be bad forever. Things will get better."

"At least Molly knows now," Hermione nodded, her voice barely loud enough to constitute a whisper. "I just wish… I wish this whole thing wasn't such a mess. I'm just tired, Bill. I'm so tired already."

Bill gave her hand a squeeze and flashed a small smile. "Well, then you should take a nap."

"That's not what I meant at all," Hermione retorted with a roll of her eyes. She took a deep breath as they approached the large double doors that opened up into the castle. "I am going to go, though. Not go. Just… I need some time to think about things." She shrugged. "Thanks again for braving your Mom with me. She can be a little scary…"

Bill paused, and then Hermione felt his lips against the skin of her cheek, and pinkness flooded her face.

She cleared her throat and turned to offer him a small smile. "I'll see you at dinner, okay?" She whispered, and then she started up the stairs. Bill remained in view at the bottom of the stairs until the staircase swung to the side. Hermione gripped the railing to steady herself, and when she looked back, he was gone.

Back in the common room, Hermione found solace in the silence in her quarters and finally allowed herself the one thing that she had been denying herself for most of the morning. She pressed her face into the pillow and cried until her eyes could shed no more tears and her cheeks felt raw, and only then was she able to sleep.

It was the sunlight peeking through the window sometime later that roused her from her slumber. Hermione startled, sitting up so quickly that she gave herself a headache. She groaned, rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and stumbled out of her room. Outside the portrait hole, the halls of the castle were bustling with activity. Hermione started for the stairs and continued the downward decent until she reached the first floor.

"Sleep well?"

It wasn't the voice that Hermione had been expecting, but she turned and grinned when she saw Luna. "I did. I just needed a little nap is all. I've been a bit under the weather lately."

Luna shrugged. "Bill mentioned that. Are you looking for him?" Luna gestured forward, and Hermione realized that she was standing in front of Bill's classroom. She blushed, and Luna continued on. "He went with Hagrid into the forest," she said. "He'll be back in a little bit. The centaurs are a bit restless, it seems. I blame the nargles, but…" She shrugged again. "They left about an hour ago? Said they'd be back before dinner." She nodded.

"Oh," Hermione said. She hated being caught off guard, and it was all she could think to say. "I wonder what has the centaurs upset?" It was a nice enough recovery she thought, but she had also noticed that despite Luna's airy personality, she didn't tend to miss much.

"No idea." Luna shrugged again. "But they'll be back soon, so you can ask them."

"I'll stop by the kitchens and see about taking some tea down to Hagrid's. You want to come along?" Hermione asked.

Luna shook her head. "I have to go into the village for a little bit," she said. "But tell Hagrid I'll stop by later. I've got something I think he'd love to have a look at." Luna winked and continued down the hall, past Hermione, and toward the stairs. Hermione watched her for a moment and chuckled before heading towards the kitchens.

She couldn't help but hope that 'something' that Luna planned on showing Hagrid wasn't a dragon or some other manner of beast.

The air felt wonderful on Hermione's face as she walked out towards the little hut at the edge of the forest with a tray of tea balanced on her arm. She was nearly to the front door when she realized that Bill and Hagrid were already back, sitting at the Hagrid-sized table inside his hut.

"It's nothin' to be worrin' yerself about right now," Hagrid was saying. "They'll be tellin' us if somethin' else happens. I can keep watch. Nothin'll get past me."

"Something already did happen. Minerva will need to hear about this." Bill replied. There was a tightness to his voice that Hermione hadn't heard in quite a while, and it made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. "They could have gotten to the castle had the centaurs not stopped them."

"There's no way they'd get in the castle," Hagrid said, shaking his head.

"Hagrid, they got out of Azkaban. Getting into the castle is child's play in comparison. Bloody hell, Draco Malfoy was able to figure out a loop hole, and he was just a kid at the time."

"McGonnagal'll never let that happen again."

"Hagrid, they were here. They were in the forest, for Merlin's sake! We know exactly why they were here. They already got Ron and Harry, and I'll be damned if… We have to tell McGonnagal. Now. And we have to get Hermione out of here."

"'Mione is safest at the castle, and you know that."

The hut fell into silence, and outside, glass shattered on the stone pathway as the tray dropped from Hermione's hand. She wanted to move, to charge into that hut and demand answers to questions she didn't need to ask, but she couldn't. Instead, her legs wobbled beneath her weight, and a moment later, the blackness encroaching on her vision overtook her completely, and she collapsed.

Author's Note: I know how horribly short that this chapter is, but I absolutely had to cut it off here. I am SO sorry. More will be revealed in the next chapter!