It was early Sunday night when Poppy Pomfrey disapperated from her small cottage and into the Weasley's backyard. She walked into the kitchen startling everyone who was there and threw her bag down on one of the vacant stools. As part of their agreement she wasn't allowed to mention that she had healed Harry, Ron, and Hermione. She just heaved a big sigh and then went into the living room. As she entered she heard a couple of pops sound as the Weasley living room was made into a make shift hospital. Nodding her approval she started to unpack her supplies.
It was as she was putting some dreamless sleep potion on each bedside table that she heard a voice speak, "what is going on?" Poppy turned to see Molly Weasley standing in the door. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out.
Carefully, she picked her words and then tried spoke again, "they sent me."
As soon as she said this a trill of music was heard from the phoenix that was resting on the back of Minerva's chair.
Remus stood up and faced Poppy, "are they safe?"
Poppy thought about this for a moment and felt her tongue begin to curl up as she tried to speak. She made a mental note to knock them all out for a good long while as retribution and then said, "I can't tell you anymore than I already did." At this Molly gave a growl. "I'm sorry but I swore and oath to them I wouldn't."
It was then that she took in the people before her. She saw he coworkers Minerva and Hagrid, she saw Remus and Tonks, Bill, Arthur, Fleur, Ginny, Fred, George, Charlie, and her eyes finally rested on two people she could only assume were Hermione's parents.
"It is nice to meet you. Pardon my rudeness for forgetting to introduce myself I am Madame Poppy Pomfrey, school nurse at Hogwarts." She went over to them and they stated their names. "It is a pleasure, but I now have to go back to sorting some stuff out." Casually she walked outside. After a moment she heard chairs being pushed back on the wooden floors and people scrambled out the back door.
All the Weasley's, Tonks, Remus, the Grangers, Minerva, and Hagrid came to halt not ten feet out the door. Poppy sat down in one of the outdoor rocking chairs and she set her gaze upon the stars.
The moment she sat down she had begun glancing at her watch every thirty seconds for the last ten minutes, and she gave a growl of annoyance. Leave it to them to be late. Oh, we will only be gone for two hours and then you can find us at the Burrow, isn't that what they said? Well, they were ten minutes past their two hours. She should have sent one of the house elves to keep an eye on them. After all none of them was on their way to being well.
Once Harry finally arrived it took precious moments to get him stable, and she breathed a great sigh of relief when he finally was. After she bandaged him up she went back to checking on Ron and Hermione. Neither of them had moved and they were both breathing peacefully. She would have to wait and see for time to tell if they were truly doing alright.
Gradually through the night she noticed signs of them beginning to stir, but none of them fully awakened. It was after she had a spot of breakfast, strong tea and toast, that Ron slowly opened his eyes.
"Mr. Weasley," her voice was sharp and cutting and Ron winced at the sound of it.
"Ugh! Not so loud," His voice was raw and his eyes bloodshot. Poppy went about asking him a series of questions as to his health.
"What day is it?"
"Who is the Minister of Magic?"
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
Ron answered all but the day question correctly. He guessed it was Friday. It was as he was trying to sit up that he noticed his wrist was still in a lot of pain. "Ugh how am I going to eat with my hand not working?"
"You, Mr. Weasley, aren't going to be eating for a while." She saw his face pale at the thought of that, "You can however have all the liquids you want as long as it is in the form of ice chips."
Ron let out a groan at this, "Oh would you please shut up!"
Apparently, Harry had decided to wake up. His voice was only slightly above a whisper, but they could tell he was trying to emphasize loudness. "Some people are trying to rest," Poppy bustled over to his bed to inspect his sense of sense.
"Mr. Potter you have to take shallow breaths the potion that is healing your ribs is going to take a while and until it is done I don't want you moving about." She said as she checked his pulse.
"How is everyone else?" Harry asked as he looked over at Hermione's sleeping form.
"Ron is up, as you can hear, but Ms. Granger hasn't awoken yet. She had a pretty nasty gash on her head and I'm waiting to see…"
"To see what?" Harry asked as she trailed off.
"What I was going to say, Mr. Potter, is that I'm waiting to see if she will by her own." Harry gave her a quizzical look. "If she doesn't then I will use magic, but I'm going to give her another couple of hours. Everyone heals at different times."
"And what if she doesn't wake up?"
Ron took in the look Harry had on his face when he asked this question. There was no doubt that losing Hermione would kill him. She was the reason he got through this messed up war. She was the reason for everything and Ron knew just how much she meant to Harry and how much she meant to him.
After all it was never suppose to be her that got hurt. But she just had to jump in front of that curse and it sent her flying backward. Ron could see her face, so clearly in his mind, when she hit the wall. It was a look of shocking surprise. Hermione didn't deserve to die. But now she was sleeping peacefully.
"Well, enough of this excitement. I want you both to take these potions and then you are to rest. I will wake you the moment she wakes up." She handed the two boys each a cup full of a strengthening potion and then went back to her rocking chair.
"Poppy, what can you tell us?" Minerva's voice broke through her thoughts. She took in the sight of her good friend and felt her strength weakening, but unfortunately the oath she took didn't.
Minerva, she noted, looked frazzled. Like she had the night that Dumbledore had died. Her hair was up in its normal bun but some hairs were escaping and she didn't have on her normal hat either. In fact if it wasn't for the cloak she would have fit in quite well in muggle society.
"Do you remember the day you took the office?" She questioned her, "Remember how scared you felt and how alone you thought you were." Minerva nodded at this. The day she became Headmistress of Hogwarts was one she would love to forget. "Well, I got a visit a couple weeks back from them and they told me their plan and I was sworn to secrecy. Until they arrive I'm not aloud to say anything else."
"But they are coming right?" Minerva asked Poppy whom just shrugged her shoulders.
"They had one last stop to make, or so they said.
"It has been two hours and she hasn't opened her eyes," Ron whispered to Harry as they stared at their best friend. "And I've been sucking on sodding ice chips for two hours. When is she going to realize that I can eat solid food?"
Harry let out a pained laugh at this. It seemed his ribs were still healing. He carefully reached out a hand and grabbed Hermione's and brought it to him. This was all his fault, he thought, she took the curse that was meant for him.
"I think it is safe to say we can ennervate her. Though I'm not positive it will work because you can't tell me what spell she was hit with. I'm going to use it once wait five minutes and try again. I don't want to overload her with too much magic." As Poppy said all this she glared at Harry and Ron as if it was their fault Ms. Granger wasn't awake yet, and she was probably right.
"Enervate," she cast her wand over Hermione and then checked the girl's vitals. Everything seemed to be just as before. She made her way to her rocking chair and sat down noting that the two boys didn't even give her a second thought after she cast the spell.
"Well, as you can see I clearly didn't kill the bastard." Remus's voice float through her mind and she turned to glare at him. "Sorry Poppy,' he whispered as he caught her glaring.
Poppy didn't approve of people killing others. It could be the healer in her but sometimes she hated the sight of blood. She remembered the first time Harry had actually visited the hospital wing, and ironically it wasn't him who was sick it was Ron. A nasty bite, which he said came from a dog, but Poppy knew better.
"It came from Norbert," Hagrid said and it was only then that Poppy knew she had spoken out loud.
"You mean from that dragon you tried to raise a couple of years back?" She asked with an exasperated tone. "Hagrid, how could you let children near such an untrained thing?"
"Well, you know those three. Always getting into others business." Hagrid let out a chuckle at this, "I remember the time they told me about Fluffy. Boy was I wrong when saying no one would find out about him living in the castle. Those three could always find something wrong with the world, or rather the world would always give them something to find wrong with it."
"Yes," Minerva chimed in. "I will always remember the time that Harry and Hermione led Umbridge into the forest and let her get trampled by a herd of centaurs. I thought she got what she deserved." Everyone had to smile at this and Poppy faded back into her thoughts.
"She isn't waking," Ron stated the obvious causing Poppy to smirk.
"Oh would you hush, Mr. Weasley, it has only been thirty seconds." She got up just as Harry lifted himself into a sitting position. "And what do you think you are doing? Lay back down." Harry wasn't listening as he threw his legs off the bed and slipped as his feet met the wood floor. She ran to prevent him from falling, but she needn't have because he steadied himself and fell upon Hermione's bed. He crawled on to the tiny space that was open.
It was as Poppy was trying to figure out the best way to get Harry back on his own bed that Ron started moving. He first pushed Harry's bed right up against Hermione's and waited for Harry to roll Hermione over. He then climbed on Harry's bed to lie next to Hermione.
"Hey, Professor, you have to wake up. We have plans to finish, remember?" Harry spoke softly into her ear as Ron held her hand. "You wanted to go back to school, finish it up you said, and I was going to go with you."
"We both are," Ron's voice was tight as he held back tears. Softly he kissed Hermione's forehead and then waited for Harry to continue.
"So you see you can't leave us. We would get lost just trying to find the right book in the library, and I swear you have a map made of that place. We are lost without you."
The whole room was silent after Harry finished. Poppy just took in the sight before her. Here were three of the greatest friends in the world and now they might be dwindling down to two, and neither had any clue what to do.
"Did you really think I was going to leave you two alone in any library?"
Ginny curled up in the chair opposite of Madame Pomfrey and watch the older lady. She could tell that there was something going on in her mind as Madame Pomfrey's facial expressions changed.
"You should give up," Ron's voice came to her head and suddenly she found herself no longer staring at Madame Pomfrey's face but at a Christmas tree.
"And what am I to give up on?"
Ron let out a sigh and ran his hand threw his hair. It was a trait he picked up from Harry. One that Ginny use to find endearing, "He isn't going to appear. Ginny, Harry knew that coming back for Christmas was something we all probably shouldn't do but it was something we needed. And he knew that his Christmas needed to be his and not ours."
"But Harry is a part of our family."
"Ginny, I never said Harry wasn't a part of our family. He is a huge part, but…"
"Ron, did he not come back because of me?"
"Ginny!" Ron sighed as he took in her face. It was red and blotchy, and Ron knew she had been crying. "I hate to say this, Ginny, but not everything is about you." And with that he turned and walked away.
Turning and walking away was not something a Gryffindor would normally do, but she realized, as she took in Madame Pomfrey's face, that it takes more courage, sometimes, to just walk away from something or someone then to stay.
She let Harry and Ron stay where they were for a few seconds before she literally pushed them away from the young girl. "Miss. Granger can you hear me?" Hermione seemed to be trying to roll her eyes, but she only made it half way. "I'll take that as a duh." None of them had heard Poppy speak so, well, so teenager-ish.
"Did someone say something about school?" Hermione, her voice was weak, asked as she tried to pull herself up into a sitting position as Poppy tried to hold her down. "Oh would you give it up lady. I'm not going to be taking any stupid potions. All I need, right now, is a hot shower and some clean clothes." Both of the boys grinned at this and rushed to hug her. Or rather Harry reached out as he wasn't able to stand and Ron moved to the other side of them. It became an entanglement of limbs rather quickly as they all held on to each other in that moment.
As part of their agreement Poppy had to let them do what they wanted and she quickly escorted Hermione to the bathroom where she stood guard as the young lady took the longest shower ever. It probably didn't help that her hair had become matted with dried blood.
After the shower was over and they were all back into the living room, resting some more, the two house elves came in. Harry told them to go back to the castle where the other house elves were waiting to start the cleaning and rebuilding of part of the castle. They didn't want anyone to know that a battle had taken place there.
"So I say we leave in a couple of hours. I think we all could take some time to rest while we are here. After all, Hermione keeps telling us that apparating while we are exhausted isn't good for us." Ron spoke up as he sucked on yet another ice chip. Harry looked from Hermione and then back to Ron before nodding.
"Yes, Ron, after all we have one last stop to make," Hermione smirked as she said this and with that they told Poppy that they were to be awoken at six in the evening and then they would be on their way.
It was nearing nine when three pops sounded from the back yard of the Burrow. It seemed that three people had landed just outside the fenced in yard and it also seemed that these three people were having a hard time getting up.
Poppy came rushing forward only to take a few steps backward at the sight that greeted her eyes. It appeared that the three people didn't know they had been spotted ye,t and she would let them think that for the time being. Silently, she glared at everyone who also came rushing forward and it was clear what she was saying: give them a few moments.
There sitting on the ground right outside the fence was Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
"Did you know…"Hermione slurred as she took a gulp from a bottle. "That firewhiskey is completely disgusting." And with one more swig she handed the bottle on to Ron.
"Hermione I think you are drunk," Harry said and with this Ron and Harry shared a grin before they both kissed her on her cheeks. She let a laugh and shook her head.
"If I'm drunk then Ron is way past drunk because he has a whole bottle."
"Hey, does this ground look familiar?" Ron asked as he threw the bottle at Harry who caught it and successfully sloshed most of it on his tattered shirt. At Ron's comment Harry looked up at the gate and he smiled before yelling, "POPPYSEED!"
At this Poppy came bustling through the gate and she knew she didn't look too pleased with them. All three of them noticed this and it was Hermione that spoke, "Shush," She turned to Harry and grabbed the bottle. "She is going to be right pissed when she learns we are drunk…So don't not tell her nothing." Hermione thought about that sentence for a minute before nodding her head.
"Oh you three," Poppy said as she snatched the bottle out of Hermione's hands, The girl did little to protest as she started to giggle and landed on top of Harry's lap. She took a swig from the bottle and then banished the thing into thin air.
"Harry, Harry Potter," Hermione sang softly. Harry just looked down at her and grinned.
"Oh get on with it you two. Just kiss already," Ron let out a scream as he fell backwards. It seemed he wasn't a graceful drunk.
Hermione seemed to take Ron's words to heart and kissed Harry lightly on the lips. It was all of this was going on that Poppy first levitated Ron into the Burrow and then levitated Harry while Remus levitated Hermione. Tomorrow was going to be one long day full of questions and answers, but for now the three teenagers had fallen asleep on the ride into the Burrow. Everything else could wait, Poppy decided, as Molly, Jane, Remus, and pulled up chairs beside her to wait the night out. They looked fondly on the three teenagers who had fallen asleep holding on to each other's hands.