A/N: This is my very first attempt at a fanfic. Please be nice, but constructive criticism is always welcome. Also, I do not own the rights to anything Harry Potter related, this is just for fun.
"There's a heartbeat. Merlin's beard, there's a heartbeat."
Madame Pomfrey leaned over the red headed man, her eyes wide with shock. She checked his heart for a third time with her stethoscope just to be sure she wasn't imagining things. She wasn't. His heartbeat was very faint, but it was there. Fred Weasley was alive.
It was mere hours after Lord Voldemort had finally reached his demise, Madame Pomfrey and a handful of healers from St. Mungo's were making the official count of the dead and taking the wounded back to St. Mungo's. Madame Pomfrey's heart ached just looking at the list of the people who didn't survive. Lavender Brown, Colin Creevey, they were both still in school. Remus and Nymphadora Lupin and recently had a baby. It wasn't fair that that little boy now had to live without parents because of the Dark Lord.
She looked up at the rest of the Weasley family, huddled together against the stone wall nearest to Fred. Most of them had finally succumbed to sleep, Arthur and Percy sleeping with their backs together, Bill slumped against the wall with Ginny resting against his chest. Charlie had gone to the hospital wing with a healer not long ago to fix a gash in his side. Ron was sleeping with his head on Hermione's lap. Only three people in the huddle were still awake and were all watching Madame Pomfrey intently. Fred's mother Molly, his identical twin George, and Hermione.
Madame Pomfrey made eye contact with Molly and the grief-stricken mother rose to her feet. She made her way to the school nurse and her son, with George following right after her. Out of the corner of her eye, Madame Pomfrey saw Hermione gently place Ron's head on the ground before getting up as well.
"Please come with me." she told the trio when they reached her. They followed her out of the Great Hall and into the mostly abandoned foyer. People were beginning to show up to either take their children home or to make arrangements for those who died. She walked to a secluded corner of the room before turning back on the other three.
"Poppy, please tell me what this is about. Nothing you can say can make this any worse." Mrs. Weasley said. She didn't sound upset anymore, just hollow and defeated. She wanted all of this to be over.
Madame Pomfrey chose her next words carefully, "I don't know everything going on yet, and I don't want to give you too much hope because things are still very much uncertain, but when I was checking Fred, there was a heartbeat. It was very faint, but it was there. He will need to be taken to St. Mungo's for more testing to see if he will be able to be woken up."
Mrs. Weasley let out a loud wail and crumpled to the ground, George kneeling down next to her and holding her in a tight embrace. The two clutched each other, their tears mixing together.
Hermione looked at the school nurse curiously. She didn't want to get too excited about Fred being okay, but she couldn't stop the ray of hope seeping it's way through her.
"What do you mean 'if he can be woken up'?" She asked.
"It seems he has fallen into a coma because of his injuries. How deep the coma is, we won't know until the healers at St. Mungo's examine him. The deeper his coma is, the harder it will be to wake him up, if possible at all. They will have to examine him to see how much brain activity he has, and if he can be woken up, will there be any lasting damage."
Hermione nodded her head then helped Mrs. Weasley to her feet. Molly and George went back to the Great Hall to tell the rest of the family the news and to prepare for Fred to be transported to St. Mungo's. He was too weak for side-along apparition, and floo powder might do more harm than good. Hermione looked at the family of red-heads and smiled before going off to find her best non-red headed friend, Harry.
She finally found him at Hagrid's hut, having a hot cup of tea with the half-giant. They nodded to Hermione when she walked in, and Hagrid poured her a cup as she sat down in between the two of them.
"I jus' can't believe it's all finally over." Hagrid said, taking another swig from his bucket sized cup. "I mean, we all wanted You-Know-Who to be done away with, but now that he 'as, I jus' don't really know what to do with me'self."
"I know what you mean Hagrid." Harry said. "All my life was leading up to this point, and now that it's done I just feel empty. My purpose in life is finished and so many people sacrificed themselves for this cause. I just can't help but feel if I had done things differently so many people would still be alive."
"Harry, you can't think like that!" Hermione exclaimed. "Think of it like this, instead of focusing on how many people have died, think of how many people are alive because of you! You saved hundreds if not thousands of lives last night. Voldemort would have just continued to kill people until Britain became a charred wasteland. Harry, please, I know it's easy to focus on all of the people we lost, but you still have me, and Ron, and Hagrid, and so many more people who love you and owe their lives to you."
Harry smiled slightly into his cup. "Thanks Hermione, I really needed to hear that. I think we all have a long road ahead until this is all truly behind us, but this is certainly a start." He looked up at his friend who had been right by his side for the past seven years. "Say, where is Ron anyway?"
She suddenly remembered everything that Madame Pomfrey had told her and Mrs. Weasley and George. "He's is probably at St. Mungo's with the rest of his family by now." she said.
"St. Mungo's? What for? Is everything okay?" Harry asked, panic starting to rise in his voice.
"No, no, no. Nothing like that! Ron is fine." She said, and she saw Harry's shoulders relax considerably. "It's, well, it's Fred. Madame Pomfrey said she detected a faint heartbeat. She doesn't know if the healers will be able to wake him up, but there is a chance."
"Well tha's fantastic news!" Hagrid said, slamming down his cup, tea sloshing everywhere. "Any chance is better than none at all!"
"We should probably see if we can meet up with them." Harry said and rose from his seat. Hermione followed suit and the pair made their way back to the castle.
They walked through the front doors of Hogwarts, and there were many more people in the foyer than there was just an hour ago. Parents were coming to get their children that had stayed in the castle last night, most of the students had gone home before the actual battle started, but some had stayed. Crying could be heard from the Great Hall where people were coming to get the bodies of their loved ones.
Harry and Hermione poked their heads in the Great Hall to see if the Weasleys had left already. They were nowhere to be found, and were about to go find a fireplace to use to go to St. Mungo's, when Harry caught sight of a tuft of turquoise hair poking out from a bundle of blankets. Tonks's mother and Teddy had arrived and were standing near the bodies of Remus and Tonks.
"Excuse me Hermione, I'll have to catch up with you later." Harry said as he walked towards his godson and his grandmother.
Hermione walked to Professor McGonagall's office. Old office, she corrected. McGonagall was Headmistress now. She walked up to the fireplace, which was still smoldering slightly, grabbed a handful of floo powder from the mantle, stepped inside the fireplace and yelled "St. Mungo's!"
She spun into the lobby of the hospital and brushed the soot off her robes. She looked around and the lobby was packed with injured witches and wizards. All of the healers seemed frazzled and tired. She went up to one of them and asked for the room number of Fred Weasley. After maneuvering through the crowd, she went up the staircase and eventually found his room. He was still being examined though so visitors weren't allowed. She found the rest of the Weasleys at the end of the hall in the waiting room. She took a seat next to Ron, leaned her head against his shoulder, and immediately fell asleep.