Hermione woke in a strange place. She was in a warm bed with a soft blanket enveloping her, but the environment around her felt tense. She sat up and saw a few Healers passing the door to her room; she was at St. Mungo's. What had happened?
Her mind was spinning; she couldn't remember where she was when she fell unconscious or how she got into the hospital. But surely Ron and Harry had the answer and were somewhere nearby…
She climbed out of the bed and walked out of the room in her nightgown. She saw the waiting room at the end of the hall and talking to one of the Healers was…Ron.
Hermione suddenly had no thoughts in her brilliant head; all she knew was that she needed to see Ron, to see his lopsided grin and to have his arms around her body. She was running toward him, and suddenly found herself yelling his name to make him turn around, "Ron!"
He turned and she rushed into his arms, catching a glimpse of his surprised expression before burying her face in his shoulder and completely succumbing to sobs. She felt his arms envelope her torso protectively as she gripped the back of his shirt. "Hermione!"
"Ron, what's going on? Why am I here?" asked Hermione into his chest, choking back sobs.
Ron pulled away, but kept her in his arms, and avoided her eyes. "Hermione, you just…you went into this..." he didn't seem to be able to string together the right words. He finally met her eyes and said, "You just had…a mental breakdown."
The mind within Hermione suddenly went black. She was drifting away from reality, into a semi-conscious world that only consumed her. And she fell…
She was suddenly back in reality, but Ron was nowhere to be seen, and she was no longer at St. Mungo's. Instead, Will Booker stood before her.
"What are you doing here?" asked Hermione sharply, though her voice shook with succumbed fear. "Go away! You stay away from me!"
"Hermione…" Will Booker sounded like he was pleading with her, and for some reason, he sounded exactly like Ron. He was coming closer to her and disregarding her yelling.
"No! Stay back! Stay back!" cried Hermione, backing away, but she seemed to have hit an invisible force which she couldn't get past. "You're not real! You're not real!"
Will Booker reached out to touch her, and she thrashed and screamed as he tried to restrain her…
And she was falling again.