Preface

This story is set six years after the battle of Hogwarts. It is set in the same storyline as my novel The Harder Struggle but you don't need to have read it to enjoy this story. There are only passing references to The Harder Struggle. Both stories are canon consistent to the best of my knowledge

This chapter is the first of three

The world and characters of Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling (though not completely)

Chapter 1

Hermione could sense the early morning light reaching into their tiny one bedroom apartment in Oxford, but she didn't want to wake just yet. There was nothing she had to do, nothing that couldn't wait and she wanted to luxuriate in this rare sense of freedom. Yesterday she had finished her last exam for the term and tomorrow she and Ron would be travelling to Paris for a week's vacation with her parents. Paris in the spring with the love of her life, her husband of four years; a smile spread across her face.

She rolled on her side and opened her eyes so she could watch Ron. She loved watching the steady rise and fall of his chest, and the calm, contented expression on his face as he slept. In the early hours of the morning, before she met the challenges of the day, it reassured her, made her believe that all would be well with the world and that she was protected.

Something was wrong. Ron's face was pale and had a slight sheen, almost a shimmer. His breathing, though regular, was shallow, his brow cool to Hermione's touch.

"Ron, are you awake?" He didn't respond to her question, nor to her gentle push. Worried now, she rocked him back and forth with increasing strength. He didn't stir, his pulse was weak.

"You have to get up!' she shouted, shaking him vigorously, feeling the beginning of panic. She took a deep breath, threw on the clothes she had discarded last night and apparated with Ron to St Mungo's.

In the early hours of Saturday morning the reception area at St Mungo's was quiet. The Friday night revellers who had enjoyed too much fire whiskey had been treated and sent home, and the Saturday sports injuries were yet to arrive. Hermione had plenty of room as she collapsed on the floor, pulled down by Ron's heavy body.

Despite Hermione's ungainly position, it took the Welcome Witch only a few seconds to recognise her. She was, after all, more than a little famous and, unfortunately, not an infrequent visitor to the hospital.

"What's the matter, Mrs Weasley," asked the Welcome Witch, whose name was Rhonda, as she rushed to the prone couple.

"I can't wake my husband. He is cold, his breathing is all wrong and his pulse slow."

Rhonda had a quick look at Ron, then with a rapid shake of her wand set alarms off throughout the hospital. Mediwizards and Healers came running, levitated Ron and then bustled him to a room on the second floor. Hermione followed closely behind but was barred from entering the room.

"Please, Mrs Weasley," said one of the Healers, "you must let us do our work. We will tell you as soon as we know anything." He then entered the room and closed the door, leaving Hermione frightened and fuming.

Hermione paced furiously outside the room and accosted each staff member as they came and went from the room, but they told her nothing. She deliberately calmed herself and started thinking. She realised she ought to let Harry and the Weasleys know what had happened. She took out her wand and was about to send a patronus to Harry when she saw Harry rushing towards her. How had he known? But Harry wasn't alone. He was following a scrum of Healers who disappeared into another room. Hermione was shocked to see they were carrying Ginny. Harry was arguing with a Healer who was barring him from entering. Hermione arrived at Harry's side just as the healer closed the door firmly in Harry's face.

"Hermione, what are you doing here?" asked a startled Harry. She explained what had happened to Ron. The same had happened to Ginny.

"We're in the magical infections ward," said Hermione. "They must both have the same bug. Ron must have picked it up from Ginny when he had dinner with you on Thursday night. Or maybe the other way around."

"It's probably not serious," she added a few moments later, biting her lip. Harry said nothing.

They both sat on the cold, hard floor, their backs to the wall, Harry with his head between his knees. After a while, Harry looked up, his face distraught. "The baby". Ginny was six months pregnant with her first child. Hermione did not reply, she simply placed her hand on Harry's knee.

In time, they were approached by Vanessa Grantham, a specialist Healer in magical infections. Hermione, knew her reasonably well through Hermione's work with the Muggle Born Repatriation Foundation. Vanessa was the wife of its founder, Oliver Grantham.

"Hermione, Mr Potter, neither Ron or Ginny are in any immediate danger, their condition is stable." Vanessa spoke with the reassuring, caring though somewhat detached tone that was the hallmark of the professional Healer. "They are still unconscious, though, and we are not sure yet of the cause. There are displaying some signs of a magical infection, which is why we have them in isolation wards at the moment. Unfortunately we cannot identify the infection as yet, we are still trying to isolate it. It is also possible that they are victims of a curse and we are investigating that as well."

"I can't see how that is possible. The only time they have been together recently was in my home last Thursday. I'd think I'd have noticed if someone hit my wife and my best friend with a curse inside my own house."

"Be that as may, Mr Potter, we don't want to rule anything out at this stage."

"Are they going to be alright," asked Hermione, her eyes pleading, even though she knew the Healer had no answer. Vanessa simply rested her hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"Ginny's baby?" asked Harry.

"The baby is doing fine, we are watching that closely."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

The Healer said a few more reassuring words and then left.

"Hermione, could you let the Weasleys know what's happened. I'm going to alert the Auror Office. If there's any chance a curse or dark magic is involved I want to get an investigation going straight away. If we can find the cause we can find a cure." He turned on the spot, leaving Hermione totally alone.

oOo

Harry arrived at the Auror Office apparition point and marched briskly to the operations centre. Herbert Savage was the Senior Auror on duty. Although at thirty eight he was still young, Savage was one of the most experienced aurors in the Office. No auror had a more extensive knowledge of Dark Magic than Savage, and he had an exemplary record of sniffing out its practitioners.

Unfortunately, Savage had never completely gotten over his resentment that Harry and his young friends had been made aurors without the lengthy apprenticeship that he and the older aurors had had to endure and that they had advanced so rapidly. Their fame, status and the senior positions that some of them held outside of the Auror Office didn't help.

"What is it Potter?" asked Savage, with a smirk. "I'd have thought you already had enough brownie points without coming in on the weekend all the time."

"I am reporting a possible attack on my wife and on Auror Weasley."

The smirk disappeared from his face, his body jerked into a rigid stance. An attack on an auror or an auror's family, was a serious matter requiring a full emergency response. "Tell me what happened," he demanded.

Harry gave him a full explanation.

"So we could just be dealing with a 24 hour bug," said Savage.

"We can't take that chance."

"I agree," replied Savage, his wand appearing instantly in his hand. He initiated the emergency protocol that would summon all aurors that could be spared from other duties.

Twenty minutes later fifteen aurors were assembled in the briefing room. Adam Gristlewaite, a veteran auror, called out of retirement to head up the decimated Auror Office after Voldemort's defeat, strode to the rostrum and gave them a rundown of the situation. Anger and determination filled the room. Many of the aurors present, Neville, Seamus, Cho Chang and Terry Boot were close friends of Ron and Ginny and the others had got to know them well over the last few years. The Aurors were a close knit community that looked after their own.

"OK, here's what we are going to do. Longbottom, I want you to take over Harry's team. I want yours and Porfey's teams out there shaking down every connection we've got, looking under every dark rock. If anything is going down in any of the neo-death-eater groups or any of the other shadowy groups of malcontents I want to know about it. Boot, you're in charge of intelligence analysis. I want you to put all your other projects on hold to work on this. Savage, I want you to investigate the dark magic aspect. Liaise with St Mungo's and examine the crime scenes. Any questions."

"What am I supposed to be doing," asked Harry, shaken to hear his home described as a crime scene, "I'm not going stand on the sidelines while my wife and best friend are under attack."

"Harry, you know the rules," replied Gristlewaite, "You can't be directly involved in an investigation that affects your family. I know you aren't going to be able to do that Harry, so I'm happy if you liaise with all the teams and keep abreast of the operation, give it your input, but under no circumstances do I want you out in the field. Is that understood, Harry?"

"Understood," Harry replied reluctantly.

"Harry, you need to be with your wife, OK, and I daresay that Ron's wife is going to need all the support she can get. Merlin knows what that woman would do without Ron."

oOo

Robert Granger was standing behind his daughter, his arms draped over her shoulders, holding her close. George had brought Hermione's parents along with him and they had joined the large mob of Weasleys clogging the corridor in the magical infections ward. Hermione's wide, puffy eyes were staring ahead blankly, seeing nothing. She was startled by the pop as Harry came out of apparition and then she ran to him, hugged him and finally let her tears flow as she felt his arms tighten around her, gathering her in, giving her comfort. Just then there was a flash of light, and a cameraman broke free of clutching hands and apparated away.

Distracted, Hermione momentarily looked toward the scuffle, and then she put it out of her mind and turned back to Harry. "They're both getting worse. They only let me see Ron for a little while and then they pushed me out. Oh God, Harry, he's so pale, and he has this sheen around him, like an invisibility field. He's fading away and they don't know what's wrong." She burst into tears again and Harry hugged her briefly but then held her by the shoulders.

"Have you seen Ginny? How is she?"

Hermione shook her head. "Molly and Arthur have. She's the same Harry."

"I've got to see her," said Harry and he dashed away to the room where Ginny was being treated, closely followed by Herbert Savage. Hermione chased after them.

"I'm sorry Mr Potter," said the mediwizard on door, "they're running some tests at the moment, you can't go in."

"This is now an Auror Office matter. You are impeding an official investigation. Auror Savage here is our finest expert in Dark Magic and he needs to see the patient now."

Hermione noticed for the first time that Harry had donned his auror robes before returning to the Hospital. The intimidated mediwizard opened the door and Hermione took the opportunity to enter along with Harry and Savage.

A healer stood over Ginny, waving her wand in intricate patterns, casting diagnostic spells.

"You shouldn't be here at the moment Mr Potter," she said.

Harry introduced Savage and explained why he was there. He never took his eyes off Ginny and his speech became more disconnected with each word he spoke.

"We are already investigating Dark Magic, Auror Savage."

"Two heads are better than one," he replied.

The healer shrugged then nodded her head. "Aradia Liland at your service."

Harry had stopped listening to Savage and the healer. He moved to Ginny's side and kissed her gently on the forehead. He took her cold hand in his, rubbing it, fighting tears, whispering "Wake up my love, it's time to wake up."

"There's bad magic at work here," said Savage, "I can smell it."

"Yes," replied Aradia, "we've ruled out a magical infection and there's definitely a spell involved. We'll be moving them to the Spell Damage ward soon, but it's not Dark Magic, the tell-tale signs are missing. Frankly we're baffled. They are slowly just draining away."

Hermione felt her face tighten, she was on the verge of tears again. Aradia noticed and she put a comforting hand on Hermione's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Mrs Weasley, I didn't mean to alarm you, we haven't exhausted all avenues of investigation, there are many tests we are yet to do."

Hermione brushed Aradia's hand of her shoulder. "I need you to tell me right now what theories you have discarded, what tests you have done, what you have learnt for sure, and what tests you plan on doing." She spoke with such force of command, such certainty, that the healer felt compelled to comply. Aradia gave a detailed briefing, with Savage interrupting frequently, adding his own observations while running his own tests and Hermione asking probing questions.

Aradia summed up the discussion; "it is most likely that we are dealing with a modified concealment charm; It only partially conceals its target, that's the sheen around them, but it also slowly dissipates them. Ginny and Ron now only weigh 80% of their normal weight, though they are still taking up the same space. It's as if part of them is now in another place. We don't understand, yet, how that could have been done or how to counter it."

When the discussion was concluded, Hermione turned to Harry, who had only half listened to the discussion. He had instead spent the time gazing at Ginny's placid face, holding her hand and brushing out her long red hair so it fanned out across the bed, adding at least some colour to her pallid appearance.

"Harry, if you need to find me I'll be in the library here at St Mungo's or in the Department of Mysteries. Let me know if anything changes." Hermione then turned to Savage. "Herbert, if you need to get into my apartment to investigate, my brother in law, George, can let you in. Thanks for your help." With that she turned on the spot, leaving Harry to explain to Hermione's parents where she had gone.

oOo

Ron woke up feeling woolly headed. He didn't remember drinking that much the previous night, indeed his memories were quite hazy all around. He sat up and opened his eyes. A little while later it occurred to him to wonder why he wasn't panicking. "I should be panicking," he thought, but he wasn't. He was perfectly calm, just enormously sad.

He once again examined his surroundings, not that there was much to see, just a roiling whiteness with a vague hint of something more substantial behind it that never came closer as you moved towards it. He was distracted by a flash of colour to his left and moved towards it.

"Ginny, is that you?"

"Ron? Where are we, Ron?"

"I have no idea. It reminds me a bit of how Harry described his visit to Kings Cross Station when he was hit by Voldemort's killing curse."

"Are we dead then? How?" asked Ginny beginning at last to experience some fear.

"I don't know, to both your questions, but if you see Fred walking towards us, it's probably time to panic."

They were silent for some time, then Ron spoke. "It's not the same as Harry described it. He said he felt no pain or sadness, just an enormous sense of peace. I don't know about you Ginny, but I feel dreadfully sad. It's like this vital part of me has been ripped out. Merlin I feel miserable."

"Me too. It's like I felt when Fred died, this great gnawing emptiness right here." She went to pat her stomach only to encounter her baby bump. She looked down, wide eyed.

"I'm pregnant?"

#

Authors Note

Hope you have enjoyed the story so far. Any comments welcome