At the start of the Summer term, Lucifer was calmly reading in the Common Room on a weekend during breakfast when the Portrait creaked open, and Hermione ran in and passed him up to the girls dorm, crying, "Hermione?"
He stood up and followed her to the bottom of the steps and watched her figure disappear up the stairs.
He turned to the Portrait angrily, his eyes a dull red as he walked out into the Corridor.
A few Gryffindor Second-Years who had been about to walk up to the Portrait saw him, and suddenly hurried to the wall on the far side of the Corridor.
Lucifer ignored them and walked down the Corridor, at a casual pace; whoever caused Hermione to be brought to tears wouldn't get very far.
He descended a Staircase and came across McGonagall, "Professor, I'm glad I found you."
"Mr. Morningstar, I'm on my way back to my office," she said, carrying a stack of books. She saw his eyes, "Perhaps you should join me?"
"I think I will," he followed McGonagall down the dimly lit Corridor and entered her office behind her when they came up to it.
McGonagall set her books down on our end of her desk and looked at him.
If she was afraid of what he might do, then she wasn't showing it, "Please, sit down," she motioned to one of the chairs on the other side of her desk as she sat down.
He did as she asked and looked right at her. He didn't say a word, though.
"Might I ask why you are... angry?" She asked him.
"I'm not angry, I'm furious, Professor," Lucifer said in a calm voice, "Hermione ran past me in the Common Room, crying, and I don't know who caused it, but they are going to wish they hadn't."
"I can see your... reasoning behind it. Let me talk to Miss Granger first, and see if I can find out what happened," McGonagall proposed.
"Alright," he stood up, "let's go. I'm not allowed to go up the steps to the Girls Dormitory, unless a Professor comes along, and even if I do use magic it will raise wards, otherwise I wouldn't be bothering you right now."
"I understand, let's go to the Common Room, and I'll see if I can either coax Miss Granger downstairs, or at least coax the answer out of her," McGonagall said and they stood up, the screeching of chairs sliding across wood echoing through the room.
She led him out and to Gryffindor Tower; anyone whatever side of the Corridor they were on, atraid of angering him.
Once inside the Common Room, McGonagall asked him to wait downstairs as she ascended them.
Hermione was in her bed, crying her eyes out practically with her beds curtains closed, blocking out the light that was otherwise coming through the windows with drawn curtains.
"Miss Granger?" She heard the voice of Professor McGonagall just as the door latch clicked open.
Hermione didn't say anything, but her sniffling gave away the fact she was there.
"Miss Granger, Mr. Morningstar - he asked me to come and check on you after explaining to me what had happened," McGonagall had walked up to her bed, but didn't open the curtains out of respect for her privacy.
Hermione sat up on her bed, her hand going up to her face without even having to think about wiping her face off, and she drew back her curtains, seeing her Head of House standing there, looking down at her with a soft expression she had never seen from McGonagall before.
"May I sit down?" She asked Hermione.
"Yes," her voice was hoarse from the crying.
McGonagall sat down and looked at her, "May I ask why you were crying?"
"It's-" She stopped herself involuntarily. She cried a bit more before continuing forth anyway, "m-my Gr-randpa... th-th-they a-are admitting him in h-hospital..." she brought her hands up to her face.
The base of her palm resting against her closed eyes, tears escaping past her hands and down her arms, wetting her pants as the salty liquid met fabric.
McGonagall didn't quite know what to say, "Well, I may not be able to help you, but I know who can. Mr. Morningstar's looked like he's wanted to severely harm someone since you ran past him earlier, he said."
"He has? Oh no..." Hermione, in her haste, didn't think about what he would make of her predicament.
She stood up from her bed after McGonagall stood up herself and she followed her Head of House down to the Common Room.
Lucifer was standing as still as when McGonagall walked up a little while ago, and Hermione, even though he wasn't showing it, she could see the anger behind his eyes, even if it hadn't been red," Mr. Morningstar, I believe Miss Granger wants to explain the situation. I will be back in my office if you need me," McGonagall said and exited Gryffindor Tower.
"C-Can we sit?" Hermione asked him and he said nothing as he turned and walked over to the couch, sitting down only when she did.
"So... I-I got a call... f-from home using the m-mirror," she clarified quickly, "m-my Gr-randpa... th-they... they... oh, Lucifer, they're admitting him in hospital!"
In the span of a nanosecond, his anger dissipated into nothing, "What?" His voice was barely above a whisper as he asked her.
Hermione flung herself over onto him, her arms going around him as she cried into his shoulder.
His arms went around her instinctively, and he gently caressed her back in a soothing manner.
He was at a complete loss for words; he was ready to kill someone, but this... it completely blindsided him.
He ended up waiting until Hermione stopped sobbing into his upper clothing, which had soaked through both the button-up short-sleeve shirt, which was unbuttoned, and the long-sleeve shirt he was wearing underneath it, "Hermione... I-I-"
She pulled back from him, her face stained with tears.
Hermione used her shirt to clean her face off which lifted up enough to show some of her belly to him.
When her belly was out of his view, he quickly looked up; he was thankful that her eyes were closed, meaning she didn't catch him staring, "It has nothing to do with magic, if that's what you're wondering... he was ill when we came back -" she got choked up, "fr-from France...."
"Hermione, what did the Doctors?" he asked as softly as he could.
"Th-There's nothing a-anyone can do..." she said in a shaky, stuttering voice, "he doesn't have m-much time left!"
"I am sorry Hermione... you should spend time with your fami---"
"NO, M-Mum and I talked, she told me specifically not to c-cancel our h-holidays. They b-both were insistent on it...."
Lucifer looked at her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him.
She didn't resist and gladly laid against him on the couch.
Hermione felt security whenever she was held by him, like nothing would ever be wrong again and would always be right.
She knew that was naive to think like that, but that's how she felt when her Lucifer held her.
It was a couple of hours later when someone entered the Common Room, prompting both of them to look towards them.
The person that entered was Harry, and he looked like he'd seen his own death happen right in front of him, "You're never going to believe what just happened!"
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