Thank you for reading and reviewing. Here is the 1000th echo, the tenth and final small piece on the hurt which life sometimes makes us face.

Ron and Lavender lay pressed together on the plush Gryffindor couch, their eyes closed, lips locked in their perpetual songfest.

The other Gryffindors had rapidly decided that the eternal nature of these kisses was more ridiculous than romantic, so they made sure to give the enraptured couple their space.

But for Hermione, it never looked like anything less than pain, reckless abandonment.
It never sounded like anything but her heart shattering.
It never felt like anything but failure, like anything but her ugliness.

It never stopped, for the sounds of their obsession echoed in her heart for days on end.