A/N: I had been working on this story for about nine months before it was finally finished. It was meant to be something that I wrote just to get out some of my feelings, but it ended up being what I consider to be the greatest thing I've ever written. And while I would sit there in pain, trying to figure out what exactly it was that I did wrong, I looked to God, praying for a better tomorrow. That it how this story came to be. It is quite possibly every emotion that I have ever felt for you and every one I ever will, my sweetpea.

I've heard there was a sacred chord

David played and it pleased the Lord

But you don't really care for music, do you?

Well it goes like this, the fourth the fifth

The minor fall and the major lift

The baffled king composing hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

Well your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you

We had been together for a year, she and I. She was perfection in every possible definition of the word; her hair was soft to the touch, of a raven color, her skin white silk. The pools of blue crystals in her eyes had an inexplicable power over me, but it was her smile that pulled me under her spell. She had an infectious laugh and an impossibly kind heart known only to me. We shared everything together: secrets, interests, tears, jokes. The one thing I knew that we shared in each other indefinitely was love. God, did I love her something fierce. That was why I was so shocked on that December night.

Dinner had finished, the students all filed into their respective common rooms. Everyone had begun the long walk up the stairs to the dormitories until I was alone, save for the crackling fire and a Sixth Year couple who had fallen asleep together in the corner. I took my chance as soon as the coast was clear and silently slid through the portrait hole unnoticed. As I climbed the stairs, I couldn't help but sing to myself: tonight was the night. I touched my left pocket instinctively, smiling when I felt the small square box safely inside. Tonight was mine and Pansy's one-year anniversary, and though some people may try to turn me off to the idea, I knew from day one that we would be together forever. Now all she had to do was answer one simple question, positively at least.

Climbing the final steps to the Astronomy Tower I could hear a rustling sound from the very top; if some horny kids were going to ruin my night, I'd kill them. When I reached the top, however, what I did see would stay with me for the rest of my life.

Atop one of the many tables two figures seemed to be wrestling in a heap of flesh. The girl straddled her male lover, threading her fingers hungrily through his hair while she nipped and sucked at his lips. His hands smoothed over her perfect pallid thigh, its milkiness only amplified by the moonlight. They moved together, each making their own small noises, until one long loud moan escaped the girl as she threw her head back in pleasure. Her long black hair cascaded down her back and she opened her eyes, gasping loudly when I met their gaze. Quickly she got up, grabbing the articles of clothing she had stripped of and redressed. She ran to my side leaving her unnamed lover alone and confused.

"Hermione," she breathed when she got close enough to me "What are you doing here? I didn't think you'd be here until midnight?"

"It is midnight," I calmly reminded her. My heart now beat at a dangerous rate in my chest. She sighed, looking down at the floor in contemplation before resting a hand on my shoulder.

"Hermione, we need to talk -"

"Spare me, Pansy!" I said, slapping her off of me. I had even shocked myself; never before had I done anything like that to her. She nodded, still refusing to make eye contact. "Why?"

"It's – it's complicated, I mean -"

"What do you mean, 'it's complicated'!" I screamed through angry tears. "We've been together for a year. I've given you EVERYTHING I could, and now you decide that you need more than I can give you? Tell me, what the FUCK is so complicated about that?" Pansy had begun to cry now, silent tears trickling down her cheeks to the ground. The sickening truth was that I enjoyed it.

"I didn't want to upset you," she whispered.

"Well that ship has certainly sailed, hasn't it?" I spat. "Tell me, Pansy, what does he give you that I don't? Huh? Is it his beautiful eyes, or his gorgeous hair that you can't help but run your fingers through?"

"No -"

"Well there's gotta be something. Does he buy you jewelry and give you flowers and write you poetry? Or maybe it's because he's a "real man" and he can fuck you like I never could, isn't it?" Pansy was silent through the duration of my berating, though it was evident that there were several times that she wanted to interject.

"That's not why I was...um -"

"Sleeping around on me, yeah continue." She bit her lip, unsure of what to say next.

"Hermione I don't know how to tell you this, but I think that it would be in both of our best interests if we weren't together anymore." I felt those words coming, heard them in my head before they were even spoken, but nothing could have prepared me for the pain they inflicted.

"Your actions spoke for themselves," I whispered as tears collected at the bottom of my face. I was still angry, furious in fact, but it was terribly difficult to be angry at Pansy when she looked so helpless; her once crystal eyes were red and wet with tears. Her raven hair was a discombobulated mess on top of her head, her normally gorgeous smile turned into dejected pout. The only aspect of her body that hadn't changed was her pale skin which looked like silk in the moonlight: she was beautiful in her sin.

"I just need a break, 'Mione," she said solemnly. "It doesn't mean that I don't love you, so don't think that for one second. I just need time to think about things is all."

"What is there to think about? We had everything thought out." Pansy smiled, shaking her head.

"We didn't. You did." Before she could begin to 'explain' herself any further I ran down the stairs, her calling my name all the while. My emotions churned inside of me, gurgling as I ran down the marble corridor to the nearest girl's lavatory. As soon as the door flew open, I was face-to-face with the toilet bowl, all pain expelling from my insides. When I had composed myself enough to stand I went to the sinks, rinsing my mouth and splashing cold water onto my face that was still sticky with tears. With a hand on either side of the sink I looked at myself in the mirror; my eyes were red and puffy like someone had punched me in the face. The scowl I wore looked as if it would be there permanently.

"Look at yourself," I said aloud. "Poor pathetic thing."

A/N: "Hallelujah" Music and lyrics by Leonard Cohen. While I wrote it, I listened to the Kate Voegele version.