Disclaimer: Harry Potter, yeah I don't own it. 'Nough said.

Hermione was curled up in an old worn and battered armchair near one of the fireplaces at Number Twelve Grimmould Place, sobbing. She had been like this for hours now, stopping occasionally, when no more tears would flow, to simply stare into the flames.

'It can't be true. NO!' she thought to herself. 'News will come back that he's made it safely, that's he's all right.'

"Hermione? Hermione, is that you?" someone called, the sound of their footsteps echoing in the connecting corridor off to the side, accompanied by another set of footsteps as well.

"Leave me alone!" she shouted, tears beginning to ebb for a moment. Harry's head appeared in the doorway, looking around at first before catching sight of his broken friend and coming in, followed by Ron.

"Hermione, you need to get some rest. You're tired and it's really taking a toll on you," Harry said as he walked over.

"Go on upstairs and get some sleep. You're just going to make yourself sick if you keep this up," Ron put in, coming up beside Hermione, putting a hand on her arm.

Hermione jerked out of his grasp in response. "Just go away unless you're here to tell me that he's fine and that he's going to survive. That he's OK. If you're not here for that then there's no reason for you two to be bothering me at all," she shot and they caught sight of her face, tear-stained and blotchy, eye blood-shot as she began to break again into sobs, hiccuping in between every few words. She curled up further into her armchair, her back turning towards the boys, hiding her face and the tears that continued to flow from her eyes.

"Hermione, we all knew that he wasn't going to make it, you even said so yourself at first. You shouldn't be taking this so hard. He was just a jerk of a teacher. A FORMER teacher. He HATED us so why do you care so much?" Ron said harshly. Harry gave his red-headed friend a glare.

"You wouldn't understand," she said, harshness in her voice. "No one understands."

"Of course we would understand," Harry replied, patting her back gently, brotherly. Hermione let out a cold, hard laugh.

"Yeah Right!"

"Hermione, 'Mione, tell us and we'll understand. We wouldn't judge you for something that you care so much about."

Hermione snapped back around, standing up. Her face was tear stained and her eyes and nose were red. Tears continued to pour from her bloodshot eyes as well.

"You really want to know? Well, I was -am- in love with him. There. Ok? Now it's out there. He never saw it. He never suspected anything different. NO ONE ever saw it! You two, my BEST FRIENDS, NEVER SAW IT! Even though I put all the signs out there. I did everything to get him to notice me for more than just an 'annoying, insufferable, know-it-all Gryffindor' or more than just what little amount of friendship we had working together in this war! And NOW he's GONE and I'm never going to be complete again. I'm NEVER going to be able to tell him how much I love him. I'm never going to have the chance to know what being with him and loving him openly feels like. NEVER!"

Harry and Ron stared blankly at their friend in shock as she ran out of the room, sobbing her whole heart, her whole soul and being, out. She ran. Ran without knowing where. Hot tears stung her eyes, blurring her vision until she simply closed them, giving up, still running, her hands sheltering her face. She just continued like this, running blindly, stumbling, until she collided against someone, their arms wrapping her up close against their form.

"LET. ME...-S-Severus?" Hermione looked up at her capturer with wide eyes. "I-I thought that you were gone? How are you here? Alive?" Her hands slid up his arms without thinking as though they would memorize the feel of his starched, tight, restrictive robes beneath her finger tips.

"Let's just call it a miracle for now...quite similar to your love for me, for my love for you," Severus Snape said, smiling down at her.

"Oh, Severus!" Hermione cried, throwing her arms around his neck, sobbing tears of joy onto his chest.

I wrote this when I was in a particularly miracle-ish mood. I'm not really sure where it came from though. I was just listening to 'What Hurts The Most' and then 'Every time We Touch'(slower version) and I just felt so...indescribable...and I just had to get this out there, you know? Hope you like it!

~Lilly Rae~