Just Being Neighborly- Chapter 14
Hermione felt awful. Her skin itched fiercely and her body felt as though it were on fire. In addition to all this, her leg ached severely. Part of her counted all these things as good, since it meant she wasn't dead. She hadn't mustered the strength to open her eyes to see where she was, but she could feel another presence in the room. She could hear relaxed breathing, which settled her nerves a little.
Slowly, Hermione tried experimental moving. Her body felt so incredibly heavy, as though she hadn't moved in quite a while. She experimentally tried to wiggle her toes. Those on her left foot felt fine, but trying to move her right foot caused so much pain that Hermione inadvertently hissed.
Immediately, she felt the energy in the room change.
"Hermione?" she heard, it was Ginny. She could feel the brush of her shirt as the witch leaned over the bed. "Hermione, can you hear me? I'm calling the Healers now." She could hear the fear and worry in Ginny's voice, and she wanted to calm her friend.
Within seconds the room was full of people running tests and murmuring. Hermione could feel Ginny's smooth, cool hand in hers. With great effort, she turned her head to that side. The pain in her head was excruciating, she hissed again.
"Her head! There's something wrong with her head!" Ginny called. The Healers bustled around her head like flies in her ears. Someone pressed a vial to her lips. She drank from it, tasting a strong headache potion. Almost instantly, the pain in her head faded. She opened her eyes just a little to find Ginny's tear-strewn face looking down at her. As the white-coated Healers bustled around, she tried to focus on Ginny's face. She squeezed her friend's hand gently.
"M'ok, Gin." she mumbled. Her voice crackled with disuse.
"Oh Merlin, Hermione. I'm so glad you're awake." Ginny smiled through her tears.
"Harry?" Hermione inquired, hoping Ginny got her meaning. Talking required more effort than she thought.
"Harry. Oh my, he's not here right now, but I promised to Floo him if anything changed. I will be right back, Hermione. I'll be right back."
The Healers checked her eyes and her reflexes. One asked her a series of simple questions- her name, her age, the month, the name of the Minister of Magic, where she lives, her parents' names, Ginny's name, her next-of-kin. All this information was on the information sheet, she was sure. They were just checking to see how well her mind worked. Hermione answered all of their questions.
The Healers had started to leave the room when Hermione remembered what had alerted them to her consciousness in the first place. She lifted a hand to draw the attention of the nearest Healer, a young woman.
"You're going to be just fine, ma'am. There's an excellent team working on your case." the Healer said calmly.
"My…leg." Hermione whispered. She'd only been awake for a few minutes and she was exhausted.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. Can you say it again?" the Healer said, bending closer. She lifted a hand to quiet the other Healers.
"Something's wrong with my leg." Hermione whispered.
"Check her legs!" the Healer ordered, "She says there's something wrong with her leg." The bustling moved to the lower half of her body as the Healers examined both of her legs.
"Healer Smith, you'd better come see this." one of them said as he held the offending limb. The witch moved to examine that limb. She sighed, jotted some notes, and ordered a pain-relieving potion for Hermione. After she took it, she asked the novice Healer for some water, which was promptly delivered.
Ginny came back into the room with Harry right behind her. He walked right to Hermione's head and looked at her.
"It's good to see you awake. How are you feeling?" he asked her.
"Dumb question." Hermione responded quietly. She wondered why people always asked that question in doctor's offices and hospitals. Obviously if she were feeling well, she'd be somewhere else.
Harry laughed. "You're right. That was a dumb question." He kissed her head and smoothed out her hair.
"Alright, Healers and novices, I need everyone out so that I may speak to the patient and her family alone, please." the female Healer announced. The others obediently followed her direction. When the last one was out the door, she shut it and turned to Hermione. "Good afternoon, Miss Granger. My name is Sadie Barnes and I am the lead Healer on your case. You've certainly had a whirlwind of experience the last ten minutes. I must caution you not to talk about your accident in the presence of others without high-level clearance. Your supervisor will be here in a few hours with an Auror to take a statement. I have clearance, so you may tell me anything you feel pertinent to your case. Now, bearing in mind that the Potter's are in the room, do you have any questions for me?" the woman asked.
"How long have I been here?" she asked.
"Ten days. You've been unconscious the entire time." the Healer responded.
"What's wrong with me?" she asked.
"Well, I can't go into too much detail at the moment, but you've been in an accident. We're hoping you can remember the details of the accident. Right now you've got some skin discoloration that is rapidly clearing up with regular application of healing slave. You sustained a mild concussion, which should now be gone. You also appear to have sustained some internal damage to your right leg, the extent of which we will determine through further examination." the Healer responded.
"When will you know?" Hermione asked nervously.
"I can do the examination now, if you'd like." Healer Barnes said. Hermione nodded her head.
Harry and Ginny sat beside each other watching as Hermione's leg examination progressed. Harry reflected that it was surprisingly Muggle testing. The startling determination was that Hermione had received nerve damage around her knee significant enough to lessen her ability to feel things below the knee. She could still move everything, but it required greater concentration than before.
"Good news, Miss Granger. You will be able to walk again. You may require some assistance at first until the strength builds up in that leg again, but you will walk. Unfortunately you will not be able to engage in any sports or activities that require quick movements of the leg because your reflexes are slowed. This includes dueling, fencing, sack racing, stilt walking, most Muggle sports, and running. You will not be able to do any heavy lifting. I also do not advise that you sit on anything lower than the common chair without someone around to assist you when you rise, as your lower leg will not be able to support itself well.
Hermione was greatly upset by the news, but she didn't want to talk about it until she knew for sure. She had a sinking suspicion though, that her supervisor was not going to like this.
Harry and Ginny were ushered out of the room a few minutes later when Hermione's supervisor arrived with the Auror in charge of her accident report. It took so long that Ginny transfigured her bag and Harry's cloak into chairs. Severus arrived for the beginning of his shift as they were waiting.
"Why are you both out here?" he asked.
"We've been temporarily banished from the room. We've been waiting for over an hour now." Harry said grumpily.
"Why?" Severus asked, wondering what sort of procedure they could be doing in there.
"They're taking Hermione's statement." Ginny said.
"Taking Hermione's- You mean she's awake?" Severus said, flabbergasted.
"Yes, for almost two hours now. Didn't Harry tell you?" Ginny asked.
"Merlin's balls! I knew I forgot to do something." Harry said, slapping his knee. Ginny looked at him shocked, and promptly boxed his ears.
"I apologize, Professor. He was supposed to floo you. She's awake and talking some. There was a problem that wasn't noticed before though." Ginny said. Severus waited. "She has apparently sustained some nerve damage to her lower right leg. The Healer said she will be able to walk again, but she won't be able to run or play Muggle sports." Ginny explained.
"Hermione seemed unusually upset by it, but she didn't say anything." Harry added.
"I would suspect she's worried about her job." Severus responded. He growled somewhat as he was rather angry with Harry Potter.
"Her job? Why would she be worried about her job?" Ginny asked.
"I don't know much of what she does. Mind you, she hasn't told me anything, but I have noticed that there are physical demands on her. She usually runs every morning. When I asked her about it, she simply told me that maintaining a certain level of physical fitness was a requirement of her job." Severus explained.
A few minutes later, Healer Barnes opened the door again and stepped out.
"We're finished with the interview, and I think we can tailor her treatment a little more specifically now. You're welcome back inside, but we have had to give her two separate calming draughts. She's tired now, so please try not to upset her further," the Healer explained. She opened the door again to allow them entrance.
Hermione was propped into a seated position now, staring blankly at the wall ahead of her.
"Hi Hermione, you've got another guest." Harry said, leading the group into the room. Hermione turned her head to look at them.
"Hello, Severus. How is my cat?" she asked.
"He is well, though I think he misses you." Severus responded. It was always a rather odd experience to talk to someone under high doses of calming draught. It was almost as though they were incapable of any kind of emotional reaction. The end result was often a little disturbing.
"I trust someone has updated Severus on my condition?" Hermione asked. Ginny nodded her head. "Good, could someone give me some water please? I find myself suffering from thirst." Harry grabbed her cup and handed it to her. Hermione attempted to take it, but ended up dumping the cup of water all over her.
"My hands do not appear to be functioning at that level yet. Perhaps we could try again, though I may require more assistance." Hermione said, glazed. Ginny refilled the cup and held it for Hermione while she drank. When she finished, Ginny spelled Hermione's hospital gown and bedclothes dry.
"Thank you. My eyes feel very heavy now; I think I might go to sleep." Hermione said, distantly. She reclined her head against the pillows and was asleep a few minutes later.
"Well that was strange." Harry said as they watched her sleep.
"Yes, it was a bit like talking to Luna Lovegood, wasn't it?" Ginny remarked.
"It's the potions; she's been overdosed slightly. They will wear off in a few hours." Severus said.
"Well, we'll leave you to your night shift, Severus. Please don't hesitate to send word if anything happens." Harry said. They left for the night.
Severus adjusted Hermione when she woke an hour later and asked him to remove some of the pillows so she could lie back. He heard her turn on her side a half hour or so later.
He knew when the calming potions wore off because Hermione began to cry softly. He was never very good at dealing with upset people, witches especially, but he couldn't just let her cry without doing anything. He sat down on the edge of the bed behind her and started to rub her arm slowly.
Hermione rolled over, looking at him as though she had forgotten anyone was there.
"What's wrong, Hermione?" Severus asked, in his best attempt at a soothing voice.
"Severus, I'm no longer able to do my job. They're forcing me into early retirement because of my stupid leg." Hermione said bitterly. She began to cry harder. Severus handed her a handkerchief and pulled her torso off the bed so she could blow her nose and wipe her tears away.
The next thing he knew, Severus had a lilac-skinned witch crying on his shoulder and he was patting the back of her bushy brown head.