A/N Hey everybody! Sorry this chapter took so long. School, and life is really hectic. And my laptop broke down again, but this time, my dad got it fixed, instead of fixing it himself. So go ahead and read! And remember to review.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot.

Chapter 7: Ron and Pansy

Ron stood in front of the stone gargoyle with a puzzled look on his face.

"'Lemon drops'? How about...'Airheads'?" Ron remembered the chewy candy Hermione had sent him the previous summer. Have to remember to ask Hermione to get me more of those, Ron thought, remembering how good those candies were. Then, his snapped out of his thoughts and back to the problem he was facing. How the hell do I get the door opened? he wondered.

"Mr. Weasley!"

Ron sighed in relief. It was Professor Dumbledore.

"Professor! I needed to talk to you." Ron explained as soon as he saw the questioning look on the headmaster's face.

"Very well. 'Mars Bars'." Dumbledore said clearly.

Both of them entered the massive room, and Dumbledore sat down in his chair. Ron sat down in the hard chair in front of him, uncomfortably.

"Now, what is it that you would like to talk to me about?" the Professor asked.

"Well, it's about the Marriage Law and my partner, Pansy Parkinson." Ron started slowly, "Did you know that she's in St. Mungo's?

Dumbledore merely nodded, so Ron kept going.

"I was wondering if you would let me go visit her." Ron said.

" Well Mr. Weasley, I can let you go for the whole day, but before you Floo there, are you sure you want to? Miss Parkinson has gone through many ordeals and she may lash out at you. Or she may just ignore you." Professor Dumbledore said.

"Yeah...I have to go see her and clear up a lot of things," Ron replied.

" Alright, go ahead and Floo there and I will inform your professors,

and let them excuse you. Remember to come back at exactly 6:30 p.m." Dumbledore said, "once you get there, ask for which floor the 'Spell Damage' ward is located. Remember to be gentle around Miss Parkinson, Mr. Weasley."

Ron grabbed a handful of Floo powder, ducked into the fireplace, and then disappeared, after yelling out 'St. Mungo's'. Ron had remembered the familiar feeling, like he was about to be sick, as he watched millions of fireplaces flying past his body. Then after a few seconds, he landed with a thump, on the floor of one of the many fireplaces in St. Mungo's. He strode to the witch who sat at the front desk.

"Which floor for Spell Damage?" he asked a black haired witch at the counter. She seemed bored.

"Are you looking for someone?" she asked.

"Yes, I am. She's a patient, her name is Pansy Parkinson" Ron replied.

The witch flicked her wand, and then said, "Fourth floor, room 892."

Muttering his thanks, he promptly left. Ron walked up the stairs, and then started down the long corridor. Soon he came across a room, with the room number '892, which was what he was looking for, on it. Apprehensively, Ron opened the door. The smell of a completely sterile room made him gag.

That was when he saw Pansy. She was laying on the bed with a blank look on her face. Her face was deathly white, and looked waxy. Her hair was strewn across her pillow and she was covered in blankets, but still seemed to be shivering.

What happened to her?

At that moment Pansy's head turned to look at him.

"Weasley?" She asked softly.

"Yeah," he replied. "Are you okay? Do you need anything?" Even though they had hated each other for the past years, Ron had the rare ability to care about anybody, even if they were is worst enemies, if they were in pain. Ron slowly walked over to the chair in front of the bed, and sat down.

"So..." She started awkwardly.

"Why did you ask for me to be here?" Ron asked.

"If you didn't want to come you didn't have to!" Pansy snapped.

Ron just remembered they words Dumbledore had told him.

"I'm sorry. That came out wrong," He said gently. Pansy looked at him in wonder. Nobody had ever talked to her that nicely, and nobody ever apologized to her before.

"It's okay," She replied, "I wanted you here to talk. Before we have to...you know, get married you need to know about my past, and what happened to me."

"You know you don't have to tell me unless you want to." Ron said softly.

"I want to," she said in a determined voice

-

Back at Hogwarts, Hermione and Harry were sitting in Potions with the Slytherins. They were learning how to make the Confusing Concoction, which was able to confuse the person who drank it.

"I wonder what Ron is doing right now," Harry whispered as he poured in some beetle juice.

"Most likely shouting at Pansy," Hermione replied. She added the final lacewings and stirred the potion twice. Harry ladled it into the glass vial and closed it up.

"I wonder why she wanted him there." Harry asked as they walked up to Snape's desk.

"Maybe to talk about the Marriage Law." Hermione answered.

"Why do you think she's in St. Mungo's anyway?" Harry wondered.

"I don't know...why are you thinking about all of this? Hermione said annoyed.

"I dunno. Maybe because he gets to skip calls and we don't," Hermione just rolled her eyes, and looked around the classroom. Everyone else was finishing up. After a few minuted they got to Snape who eyed their potion.

"It's good enough. Put it down." Snape said shortly.

As they walked past Malfoy's table, Hermione heard some whispering. They sat down in their seats, which were unfortunately next to Malfoy and Blaise's table. Hermione looked to them. They were in deep conversation. All of a sudden they both stopped, and looked over at Hermione. When they saw her, she was reading a book. What they didn't know, was that she was still listening to their conversation.

"Where do you think the Weasel is?" Draco asked.

"Most likely at St. Mungo's with Pansy," Blaise replied.

"Why is he there?!"

"What do you think? Pansy did ask him to go there, so he did. God, Draco, you're getting dumber and dumber every day."

Draco glared at him. All of a sudden,a question popped into his head.

"Do you think she will tell him why she is in there?" He asked.

"I dunno. Maybe she will, I mean after they get married he will have to help her around," Blaise replied.

"Why would he help her? They hate each other."

"He will be forced to. That is why she got paired up with someone. Someone can always keep an eye on her. If she gets any worse, he can help her. Plus, she can't walk around, and someone has to help her. My father told me that, because Weasley came from a big family, they would send him a letter, and ask that until she gets better, she will be kept at his house." Blaise whispered.

"Oh...hey did you know Pansy will be coming back in two week? It'll be good to have her back here." Draco said. The three of them were close friends, even though, at times they wanted to kill each other, but they all stuck together.

At Hermione's table, Hermione smiled. Pansy, Malfoy, and Blaise were just like them. The only difference was that the 'Golden Trio' was nicer than them. Hermione's smile suddenly slipped off her face. Pansy couldn't walk. How the heck did that happen?

-

Meanwhile at the hospital, Pansy explained her childhood to Ron.

"My father would always drill into my head that I was better than Muggles. Even as a child, I didn't believe him. Father scared me, and when he talked about them, he would have this smile plastered on his face. It was terrifying! My mum was a whole different story. She always believed that we aren't any different. I would always believe what she told me, but I was still brought up with that prejudice. At school, Snape was watching us, all of the Slytherins, and would tell our parents if we did anything nice to Muggleborn, because we all 'hated' them." Pansy explained, trying hard not to cry.

"Why did you hate Harry though?" Ron asked.

"That was another story. Remember Snape was watching us? We couldn't say anything, as Snape would be suspicious. I remember when Draco told me that he tried to be friends with Potter. Snape heard us and told Draco's father and so when Draco went home...well, it wasn't good." Pansy bit her lip, "After Draco's father found out, Lucius told my father, and for some unknown reason, he punished me too. Every single year my father and Draco's father, Lucius would find something out, that was wrong in their eyes, and then punish us severely."

"What? What do you mean punish? Did your father curse you?" The red haired boy cried indignantly. Ron couldn't believe that a father would curse their own child

"Yes, as well as the usual thing. He grounded me, and one time when he got really angry, he didn't let me eat dinner. Mother gave me food in secret. That was pretty much my whole childhood. Hogwarts was the one place I could escape."

"Where is your father now?" Ron asked.

"He's in Azkaban. That comes into everything, but a litlle later."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that Father has to do with why I'm here." Pansy sighed.

-

At Hogwarts, everyone was eating lunch at the Great Hall. Hermione picked at her food, not feeling hungry. The thought that there would be someone at the school who was constantly in pain, and could not walk, bewildered her. Magic could usually heal everything. But if it was a spell, or a potion put on her, it could've gone wrong, Hermione thought reasonably.

A/N So how was it? This chapter is actually longer than all my other chapters. Thanks to my new beta...NickyFox13! Remember to read and review!