the_debt_of_time

waiting for him. Instead, he saw Hermione buckled to the ground, struggling against Sirius's
grip as she clawed at the grass, tears pouring down her face.
He had only seen grief like that on the day of the Final Battle when she had thought
that he had died and turned her grief-stricken wrath toward Voldemort in an attempt to
kill.
The expression on her face was frightening; she looked like she was screaming, but
no sound was coming out. It was only when he saw Sirius's wand in hand that he realised
his godfather had silenced her.
"We don't need any more attention," Sirius said in a broken voice to Harry as he
rushed over and fell to his knees in front of Hermione while she sobbed.
Her eyes were clenched shut and her knuckles white as her fingers dug into the
frozen ground beneath them, as though she could pull his parents back to life through the
grass. As her body shook, Harry could see that she was gasping for breath, letting each
gulp of air she got into her lungs out with a deafening scream, or at least, it would have
been deafening were it not for the Silencing Charm.
Harry was grateful that Sirius had thought ahead for that. Despite Godric's Hollow
being a small village, if spotted, he would draw the attention of anyone who dared look
their way, and today was not about him; it was about his parents and the sacrifice they
made.
It was also about Hermione and what she felt she needed to do, which right now,
Harry felt had been a mistake.
She broke free from Sirius's grip and fell into Harry's open arms. The moment they
touched, it was as though he were pulled into the bubble of the Silencing Charm. The cries
torn from her sent cold chills through his body. Hearing her pain was torture, but nothing
like the Cruciatus. No, this felt like the Killing Curse. It felt cold and empty, as though
merely being near her grief was hollowing him out.
He could feel as she choked for air and tried to adjust her body so that she could
breathe easier. Instead, she buckled further, curling in on herself while he stroked her hair
and back in a comforting gesture, not knowing what else to do. He had faced Death Eaters,
a basilisk, dragons, Voldemort himself, and had even died once, but he felt unbearably
helpless as he tried to comfort his best friend.