"Could you have protected her, if we'd told you right away? Could you have found her? Did you have the strength to keep her safe?" James returned, evenly. Harry paused, riling as much against the truth as he was against his father now. "Harry ... you totally accepted that you were in love with Hermione, as soon as your mother pointed out that little fact to you. It was like awakening a truth that you had always known and you were frantic to find Hermione, to make her yours just to make up for lost time for that reason alone. It was only because you were so wounded that you weren't able to charge right out into the world to find her right away.  