"He's just the only person you ever seem to talk to for long. Aside from Fred, who's with Angelina. Everyone else you just end up fighting with. And not in the hot and bothered, angsty sex later kind of way."
"That doesn't mean I'm shagging him," Hermione muttered, feeling as though her face were about to burst into flames. "He's a colleague. I consult with him about potions."
"You just seem lonely," Ginny said, giving Hermione a long look.
Hermione started and stared at Ginny.
"You don't talk to anyone nowadays," Ginny said. "You used to always be with Ron and Harry. But even before you left to become a healer, you've seemed more and more alone. I thought — maybe you had someone. Granted, Snape would be a weird choice for a lot of reasons — But, it's a war. It's too much for anyone to handle alone."
"Cathartic shagging is Ron's thing. Not mine," Hermione said stiffly. "Besides, it's not like I'm fighting."
Ginny looked at her pensively for a moment before saying, "I think that hospital ward is worse than the battlefield."
Hermione looked away. She had sometimes wondered if it might be, but it had never been a question she could ask anyone.
Ginny continued, "I think of it every time I'm in there. In the field — everything is so focused. Even when someone's injured. You just apparate them away and then head back. You win some. You lose some. You get hit sometimes. You hit back. And you get days to recover if it's bad, or if your dueling partner dies. But in the hospital ward, every battle looks like losing. I'm always more traumatised after being in there than I am by fighting."
Hermione was silent.
"And you don't ever get time off," Ginny said. "You're on duty for every skirmish.They can never spare you, not even to let you grieve. I know, from Harry and Ron, that you're still pushing for the Dark Arts when you go to the Order meetings. I don't agree — but I get it. I realise that you see the war from a different angle than the rest of us. Probably the worst one. So — I'm just saying, if you had someone, I'd be really happy for you. Even if it was Snape."
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"You should probably stop talking now if you still want that contraceptive potion," Hermione said with a glare.
Hermione woke in a state of shock.
Ginny and Harry had been together.
Ginny and Harry had been together and Hermione had no memory of it. There was not so much as a trace of it in her recollection. She'd forgotten it entirely.
Harry and Ginny's relationship had been something she'd forgotten...
Intentionally?
Was that what Hermione had been hiding?
Ginny had still been alive when Hermione was imprisoned. Ginny hadn't been in the final battle. She hadn't been tortured to death alongside the rest of the Weasleys.
