Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor its characters. They belong to the amazing J.K. Rowling.
June 18th
The department of Mysteries was probably one of the strangest place Hermione have ever seen. The place was dark, way too dark for the situation they were in. As if being surrounded by Death Eaters wasn't an enough source of stress, they have to struggle to see anything.
She knew that it was a trap. But when Kreacher told them that Sirius was not at Grimmauld Place, there was no stopping Harry. Even if she told him that he was probably lying since he hates Sirius, Harry was determined to go to the Department of Mysteries to save Sirius.
When they arrived and they saw no one, Hermione knew their little journey in the Ministry would not end well. And as she dodged a curse, she thought for the first time in her life that she hated being right.
And here she was, running for her life, dodging spells and worrying for her friends as they got separated in two groups. As she ran with Harry and Neville, she could hear the former apologize again and again. But he didn't have to. Even if they were scarred, even if they would rather be in class with Umbridge than here, they would follow Harry until the very end.
Suddenly, they all had to stop. Three Death Eaters were surrounding them and panic started to rise in Hermione. There was no way they would be able to beat them all.
"Harry!"
"I know!"
As once, they stunned their opponent and started to run again. They could hear new voices shouting spells and were relieved when they recognized Sirius' voice among them. They weren't alone anymore. They were safe.
"Hermione," she heard a voice – Tonks' – screamed.
Turning around, she saw a purple light aimed at her. But it was too late and hurt her right in the chest. It was then that all happened like in slow motion. She fell backwards, the wind knocked out of her, and hit the ground in a loud cry of pain. She could hear voices around her but couldn't tell whose voice it was. She had a lot of difficulties breathing and her eyes were blurred with tears. She never felt so much pain before, it was unbearable. She wanted to scream but didn't have enough strength to.
As the seconds passed, she could feel her clothes being soaked with her own blood. Soon, she was bathing in her own blood, and something – no, someone – was lifting her up. She was in someone's arms, and their warmth was really comforting. She couldn't think straight and so couldn't say whose arms it were, until she was two faces above her.
Sirius and Harry.
She was in Harry's arms and they were both safe. She was overwhelmed with relief. If Sirius and Harry were safe, if the others were safe, then she could rest a little.
Her vision cleared a little and she could see tears falling on Harry's face. She never saw him cry and it broke her heart. She wanted to tell him not to cry, that she was fine, just a little tired but the words didn't seem to come out of her lips.
"Please, Hermione," he pleaded, "Don't leave me. Don't you dare leave me. I love you! Please, I beg you, stay awake. Don't close your eyes, don't-"
She didn't hear him after that, but her heart broke at each of his words. Really, she was alright. Or maybe not, she thought as she saw Harry's hands stained with her blood.
"Let me rest, Harry," she whispered, so slowly that Harry almost didn't hear her.
She closed her eyes and felt Harry's grip on her tighten. She heard him beg to not leave him, to open her eyes. She heard as he repeated and repeated and repeated that he loved her. But then, she didn't feel anything anymore. She didn't hear anything anymore. She was just peaceful. And then, there was nothing.
The pain was what woke her up. She had to take a big inhalation to be sure that she was breathing. Breathing in and breathing out several times, she took in her surroundings. She was still in the Department of Mysteries, the prophecies were everywhere. There was something off, though. There were no screaming, but above all, Harry wasn't there. Neither was Sirius nor Neville, Luna, Ron and Ginny. Hermione was confused and soon panic overwhelmed her. They wouldn't have let her behind, dying, right? Harry was so heartbroken, he would have never left her. So why was she all alone in the Department of Mysteries? Where were all the Death Eaters?
The sound of footsteps pushed her thoughts away and a fraction of seconds later, the face of Alastor Moody was above hers. His face wore an unusual concern that he never showed and she heard him shout something about Saint Mungo and Hogwarts before she passed out once again.
July 2nd
The incessant beep from the electrocardiogram interrupted the dreamless sleep Hermione was in. She refused to open her eyes immediately, as she knew that the room was really bright, even with her eyes closed. She opened them however when the beep began to annoy her to no end.
She recognize a hospital room right away and she didn't even have to force to remember everything. She could see from a window that the sun was up in the sky, which means that it was probably around noon.
The room was really silent, so much that it was unnerving. There was no one in there beside her. No nurse, no doctors and none of her friends were there. She was all alone and Hermione hated to be alone. At Hogwarts, even if she didn't get along with her roommates, she was happy that they were there because she was never alone when she didn't want to be. If she wanted to be alone, she would go to the library, she knew for sure that no one would follow her there.
But right now, she was all alone, and she didn't want to be.
She considered calling for a nurse but decided against it. There probably were patients that were demanding more attention than her, even if she was in a lot of pain. She could wait until a nurse came in her room like they probably did on a regular basis.
As she waited, she wondered how long she has been out. It felt like at least two days for her but she couldn't know for sure.
So, she waited. And as always when she was alone, a lot of thoughts came to her. Thoughts that she didn't want to have but couldn't push away.
She loathed being alone.
It was an hour and a half later that a nurse came in. She didn't hide her surprise to see her awake but she quickly shook it off and gave her her most beautiful smile.
"Miss! You're finally awake! You should have called me as soon as you woke up!"
Hermione only gave her a shy smile and a nod. The nurse gave her a glass of water, guessing that her throat was dry. Hermione drank it promptly, being really thirsty.
"My name is Hawkins. I've been taking care of you since you've been admit here. Are you in any pain?"
"Yes, my chest hurt a lot," the curly haired girl replied.
The nurse nodded, writing on a paper what Hermione just told her. "I'm not surprised, it was really a nasty hex that you've been hurt with. Here, take this, it will help with the pain."
Hermione took the potion without a word and drank it right away. The nurse smiled.
"Alright, I'm going to run a few tests and then I'm going to ask you a few question, is that okay?"
The young with nodded and Hawkins proceeded to run the tests with a wave of her wand.
"You don't have a fever, which is a good sign. Your injury is healing fairly well, but I'm afraid it will leave a scar."
She noted everything on the paper and then pulled a chair, sitting on it.
"Now, with the questions then. We couldn't identify you so we weren't able to contact your family. What's your name?"
"Hermione Granger."
"Pretty name," Hawkins commented while noting it, "and your age?"
"Sixteen."
"Oh, you're an Hogwarts student, then?"
"Yes, I will begin my sixth year."
"One of the best year! I really miss Hogwarts. Alright, one more question to be sure that everything is alright. What is the date?"
"June 18th."
"Hm. We're actually July 2nd but you were admitted on June 18th so it's normal that you think it's the actual date," she said with a smile. "Everything seems to be in order, so I'm going to contact your parents now. Do you have any questions?"
"Did anyone visit me," the student asked.
Hawkins shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, but like I said we couldn't identify you and contact anyone. Don't worry, I'm sure your parents will be there right after I owled them. You should sleep, you need a lot of rest."
With that, she left the room, leaving Hermione alone again. Not wanting to think to much again, the young woman decided to follow Hawkins' advice and to take a little nap.
July 3rd
The nap actually turned into a full night of sleep and when she awoke, Hawkins was there, a look of worry in her face.
"Is something wrong," she asked with a sleepy voice.
The nurse's smile didn't reach her eyes. "Nothing is wrong with you Miss Granger, but we still couldn't contact your parents. We contacted the Professor Dumbledore, is that alright?"
"It is, but it's strange. My parents would have been here as soon as they heard."
"That's what I think too. The Professor Dumbledore will be here in an hour. Here, your breakfast. Eat everything, you must me hungry after two weeks in coma."
Hawkins left and Hermione happily ate, but she was worried. All of that was really weird. First, no one came visit her, and even if she thought that she didn't particularly deserved a visit, she thought that Harry would have at least been here once. Second, no one told her parents. She knew that at the end, the order were at the Department of Mysteries to save them, which meant that the Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall knew what happened to her and they would have contacted her parents immediately.
There really was something wrong and she didn't know what.
She just hoped that it wasn't one of her nightmares becoming reality.
Hello! Thank you for reading. Hope that it was a pretty good beginning. I'm sorry that it's so short. I can do really long one shots, but when I write multi chapters fiction, I just can't write something long. It's really frustrating. I'll do everything in my power and try to write longer chapters. I hope you'll still be there!
Your opinion is really important to me so that I can know what I did right and what I did wrong, so please, leave a review to tell me what you think of that chapter.
Also, I will let you have a free interpretation of Harry's "I love you" to Hermione. Is it romantic feelings? Is it an "I love you" from a brother to a sister or between really good friends? I let you decide that! It can be whatever you want.
Love,
Elie