"What do you mean he sort of saved my life?"
"Well..." Harry looked at George and Ron for answers. "Ginny's outside. She and George were there to see it for themselves...they should tell you."
Harry left the room, taking Ron with him while George stayed and watched Hermione awkwardly. Ginny entered the hospital room a minute later, heading straight over to Hermione.
"Merlin, those boys Hermione," Ginny shook her head "They say three people in the room and of course they stampede right on in."
Hermione laughed. "Nice to see you too Ginny."
"Missed you 'Mione," Ginny smiled and went over to hug her. After she released Hermione her eyes lingered on her brother for a moment in his sleeping form.
He'll be okay Ginny. I promise, he'll be okay. Hermione felt like saying. She wasn't sure how she could keep that promise but she knew she would. Fred would pull through this.
"So...what happened?" Hermione asked quietly.
"Well, nobody's quite sure at this point," Ginny answered knowing exactly what Hermione was referring to. "What's the last thing you remember?"
"A spell," Hermione recalled. "The death eater I was duelling he...sent a spell at me but missed. He hit the wall behind me and...it came down on me..." Hermione pulled the sheets away from her legs and looked down. She was intact. Barely a scratch was on her body. "Didn't it?"
"No Hermione, that's the thing, it didn't," Ginny looked over at Fred.
George spoke next. "Fred saw the wall coming down on you Hermione. We both did. He tried to warn you but by then it was too late."
"We thought...well we saw it and we knew...we thought you..." Ginny trailed off and averted her eyes to look at the floor.
"Had died," Hermione finished for them. "The wall would have crushed me. But...it didn't?"
George nodded. "It crushed Fred."
"How? I mean, I could've sworn you were farther from me than..."
"Well that's the part nobody understands. Hermione, you can't apparate in Hogwarts. And even if you could...you can't make someone else apparate without being connected to them in some way," Ginny said.
Of course she needn't have since Hermione already knew that. But what relevance did apparating have to all of this?
"Fred switched with you," George explained "if that makes sense. One moment you were about to be hit with a falling wall and the next you were taking the spell aimed at Fred and Fred was taking the wall that nearly ended on top of you. After that you were both in comas."
"Oh my Merlin," Hermione's attention snapped over to Fred's unconscious bandaged body and she gasped. "That's- that's my fault then isn't it?"
"Hermione we don't even know what happened. It's certainly not your fault," Ginny insisted.
"Yes it is. I could have deflected the spell or...something. That wall didn't have to come down if it wasn't for me," Hermione blinked. She put Fredrick Weasley in a coma. Fred probably didn't have a bone in his body that hadn't been broken and it was her fault.
Ginny recognized the look on her face and shook her head. "Hermione, no. Don't try and blame this on yourself. It's no one's fault."
Hermione realized George was being uncharacteristically quiet. "George I'm so sorry," Hermione apologized. "Really I can't believe-"
"Hermione, it's okay," George cut in. "Fred will be fine. Give him time. He'll be okay." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself not her. Hermione knew Fred would be okay. He just had to be okay. He was going to be okay.
Hermione buried her face in her hands. "If that's the whole story, do you mind leaving me alone for a minute? I need to think this over."
"Sure," both George and Ginny nodded and left the room quietly.
Hermione swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat down on the chair Harry had pulled up next her bed, turning it so it faced Fred's.
"What happened?" she whispered to herself. "One minute I'm defeating death eaters and the next I'm in coming out of a coma." She looked up at Fred and placed a hand over his. "Promise you'll wake up. I need you to wake up."
Her voice was coming out soft and barely a whisper. She closed her eyes. How could this have happened? Fred ended up under that wall? She was right there; right about to get hit when it...it had gone black. But Fred had been farther away, it wasn't possible for him to get there in that much time. Neither of them could have apparated and, like Ginny said, even if they could Fred wouldn't have been able to apparate right where she had stood. It was too difficult if not impossible.
Hermione was pulled out of her thoughts as Amelia entered the room. "Miss Granger I'd appreciate it if you stayed in your bed as you were told," she said. "Were still not sure what you were hit with and if there's any affects that we have yet to discover-"
"Yes," Hermione nodded and went crawled back into her own bed. "I understand."
"Thank you Miss Granger," Amelia handed her a vial. "Take this, it's a sleeping draught. We have to run a few more tests today, I'm sure you'd be more comfortable while asleep."
Hermione downed the vial in one go and lay down. "Amelia may I just ask...if I had to be asleep for the tests...why didn't you do them within the five days I was asleep?" Hermione questioned tiredly.
"We needed to know if you had any information about what had happened to you first Miss Granger," Amelia answered.
Hermione yawned; the effects of the potion slowly taking affect "What about Fred?"
"Mr. Weasley's conditions are different than yours Miss Granger," Amelia said. "He was hit physically and it was fatal-"
Fatal? Hermione thought. As in deathly? As in Fred could have died?
"Miss Granger I ask that you please lie down after taking the draught. It will- almost immediately- cause drowsiness."
"What?" Hermione realized that she was, in fact, sitting upright again. "Sorry, of course." She lay down on her back and closed her eyes.
"Hermione?" she heard Amelia ask distantly. She shook her head slightly at the nurse and Amelia got to work on the tests.
Hermione opened her eyes hours later and smiled. Sleeping draughts always had that affect you felt so peaceful when you woke up.
"Good afternoon sweetheart."
"Dad?" Hermione asked sitting up. She looked up into her father's brown eyes and her smile widened. "What are you doing here?"
"My daughter just woke up from a five day coma, during which I rarely got to see her. What do you think I'm doing here?" he bent over and kissed her forehead lightly.
"Is Mum here too?" Hermione tilted her head at her father and he brushed the curls away from her face.
"Of course she's here," he whispered. "But she dozed off a few minutes ago; we were waiting for you to wake up." Hermione looked over to where he father was looking. Her mother was sitting in one of the armchairs against the wall with her head resting against the back of it; her eyes closed.
"Oh," Hermione leaned up against her pillows and sighed. "Well, let her rest then."
"She'll be disappointed she wasn't here the moment you woke up. She's been worried sick about you," her father told her gently. Hermione nodded silently.
Well of course her mother was worried. She had no idea what was going on in Hermione's life. Hermione preferred to keep the magical world away from her muggle life and vice versa. Things were complicated enough being a muggle-born let alone bringing her family into the mix. Plus if her parents really knew what she was doing, fighting in a war and risking her life; well certainly they'd support her, but they may not exactly approve her decisions to be the wisest.
Mrs. Granger sat up as she opened her eyes and looked around. "Hermione? Oh my goodness, Hermione!" she pushed herself out of the chair and came over to Hermione's side, kissing the top of her head and hugging her close. "Honey how are you?"
"I'm fine Mum," Hermione answered. "Don't worry about what happened. It's no big deal."
"Hermione you were in a coma! For heaven's sakes if that's not a big deal what is? You were out for five days! I had no clue as to what happened to you. Your father was worried sick." Yeah he's the worry wart.
"Mum," Hermione put her hands on her mother's shoulders in attempt to calm her down. "I'm perfectly fine. Honestly, I'm okay."
"Hermione Jane Granger don't you dare try and pull that past me! I was scared half to death when the bloody owl came flying through my window telling me that my daughter was in a coma hit by some unknown...spell!" her mother screeched.
"Mum!" Hermione barked. "I'm fine. Do I look sick? Do I look like I'm lying on my death bed?"
"Hermione don't even joke about dying right now. First you're fighting in a war and then you end up in the hospital and you think it's okay to joke?" Hermione looked at her father not being able to meet her mother's eyes. "Sweetie I know that you belong in this world. This is where you love to be and I understand that," her mother continued with a sad smile. "But I rarely know what's actually going on in your life and to find out you're in the hospital for who-knows-what?"
Hermione put her face in her hands. "Mum, Dad, I'm fine. I promise you I am neither in danger nor in pain right now." Well not anymore anyway. Hermione added to herself.
"Sweetheart just please take care of yourself," her dad patted her knee. "It's hard not knowing."
"I get it Dad," Hermione sighed. "And trust me, I try." So her mother did know about her fighting in a war. That was probably Mrs. Weasley's doing.
Hermione's mother looked over at the other occupant of the room. "That's Molly's son?" she asked.
"One of them," Hermione replied. "That's one of the twins; Fred."
"Oh, well what happened to him?"
Hermione looked over at Fred. The nurses had taken the bandages off of him, meaning he must have healed considerably, and he was now facing her bed.
"He was hit by a falling wall," Hermione answered slowly.
"That must have hurt like hell," Mr. Granger was being sincere but his wife hit his shoulder anyway.
"Andrew! Language!" she turned back to Hermione "That must have been terrible."
"I'm sure it was," Hermione said. And it could have been me, she wanted to add. But after all her mother had just finished telling her, she decided to leave that bit out.
About an hour later Mr. And Mrs. Granger were escorted out of Hermione's room and to the lobby by Amelia to make sure they got out okay. Hermione got up and left the room to go get a glass of water from the kitchenette across the hall. She came back and sat crossed legged on her bed and put the glass on the tray beside her.
The tray tilted and the water sloshed over the side of the glass and Hermione rushed to balance the tray properly on the stand. This resulted in the whole stand toppling over and the glass hitting the floor with a smash.
"Damn it," Hermione cursed and found her wand tucked under her pillow. "Repairo." The pieces of glass flew back together into a whole and Hermione sighed in relief reaching over and picking it up.
There was a low chuckle in the room that startled her and she dropped the glass again and just listened in shock as it broke back into the many pieces it was in before.
"What the..." she looked over next to her.
"Hey Hermione, you want to tell me what the hell I'm doing here?"