The day finally arrived when Hermione would have her bone marrow transplant. When leaving Hogwarts she was covered from head to toe with the same attire as Ron and Harry were wearing when they visited her in her clean room. She and Ron had to be transported in separate carriages because Hermione still could be around other people until she arrived at the hospital. Hermione saw Ron just as she was being assisted into her carriage. Ron smiled at her and blew her a kiss.
"Hermione, can you count backwards from 100 for me?" the anesthesiologist said. The operation took about four hours but it was very successful. Hermione awoke in a large soft bed with Newton next to her. She tried to sit up, but her side was very sore. She looked down and saw a large scar in her right hip. She smiled to herself and remembered where the scar came form.
"Come in" Hermione said when she heard a knock at the door. A smiling redheaded man came through the door in a wheelchair.
"Hi stranger" Hermione whispered. Ron kissed Hermione deeply on the lips and stroked her head.
"How are feeling?" Ron asked.
"Sore, you?" Hermione asked.
"I feel sore too, but it was worth it" Ron said.
"You gave me the best Christmas gift ever, Ronnie, thank you so much" Hermione said.
"I did?" Ron said.
"Of course, you gave me the gift of love and the gift of life" Hermione said.
"I love you" Ron said.
"I love you too" Hermione said. Ron got out of his wheelchair and lay beside his girlfriend. Hermione took the invitation to snuggle up to Ron after missing his warmth for so long.
"Hey turtle doves, you made it" Harry said coming in the room. Harry went to Hermione and gave her hug and a brotherly kiss on the cheek.
"These
are for you, Hermy" Harry said presenting Hermione with tiger
lilies which were her favorite flower.
"Oh Harry they're
beautiful thank you" Hermione said.
"Here yeah, go mate, figured you'd be hungry after not being able to eat for a day" Harry said, tossing him some chocolate frogs.
"You couldn't eat?" Hermione said.
"Not the day the before the operation no" Ron said.
"Neither could I" Hermione said. Ron gave her a chocolate frog and she gobbled it down.
"Oh yeah, and there is going to be another Christmas Ball" Harry said. Hermione made her eyes look at her blankets.
"What's wrong, babe?" Ron asked.
"I don't want to go" Hermione said.
"It'll be fun, Hermy, and you already have your date" Harry said.
"I'm in a wheelchair though" Hermione said.
"So? We'll figure out away so you can dance, lovie" Ron said.
"What about my hair, as in, there is none to be seen?" Hermione said.
"Hermione, sweetheart, how many times have we been over this? You're beautiful. You're so much prettier than the girls who do have hair, babe. You've never cared about your looks before, that's one of the things I admire you for" Ron said.
"I've never had cancer before either, and I know what people think when they see me. They think, 'look at Hermione Granger, she's not the brightest witch in school anymore, and she gets all this special treatment from the professors. How does she get away with that?' I don't want be Hermione, the first witch in the history of Hogwarts to get leukemia, or the first Learning Disabled witch to go to Hogwarts, I just want to be Hermione again" Hermione cried, her head in her hands. Ron put his arms around Hermione's shoulders and kissed the side of her head. She turned her body into Ron's warmth and laid her head in his chest. She wasn't sobbing; she was kind of sniffing and whimpering, silent tears rolling down her cheeks.
Ron rubbed her bear back which was exposed by a hospital gown and Harry held her hand.
"I know its hard, Sunshine, but please don't be so upset, I hate seeing my love cry" Ron said.
"I just don't know who I am anymore" Hermione said.
"You're Hermione Granger, I'm Harry Potter, and that's Ron Weasely, The Golden Trio. The Brains, The Brawn, and The Bravery, that's the way it's always been and always will be" Harry said.
"Please go to the ball with me, sweetie. Wasn't it you who said in our fourth year to buck up the courage to ask you before someone else does and not as a last resort? I'm using you as a last resort this time" Ron said kissing her cheek.
"Ok, fine, I'll go with you, Ronald" Hermione said. Ron hugged her happily.
"I won't disappoint you, love, I promise" Ron said.
"You could never disappoint me, Ronnie" Hermione said.
"Who are you going with, mate?" Ron asked.
"Your sister of course" Harry said.
"Even though you're my best mate, if you hurt her in any way, I might have to pound you" Ron said.
"Fair enough" Harry said.
"Sweetie, I'll be right back, I need to Harry about something" Ron said as he got back in his wheelchair. Hermione nodded and rested her head back into the pillow.
Once outside Ron took the Christmas present he got for Hermione.
"Do you think she'll like this, mate?" Ron said holding up a gold locket shaped like a heart.
"Oh yeah she'll love it, can I see inside?" Harry asked. Inside was a picture of The Trio when Ron and Harry charmed their hair off for Hermione. On the left side was an engraving that read: "Bald Is Beautiful and you're the living proof of that, Mione. I love you, Ron".
"That's really sweet, mate, it really is, she'll love that" Harry said.
"Ron, Harry!" Hermione screamed from the door. Ron and Harry rushed back into to see Hermione on the floor and her IV pole tipped over. Hermione was trying to take a nap when she rolled the wrong way off the bed knocking over her IV pole in the process.
Ron picked Hermione's IV pole while Harry picked up Hermione.
"Its ok, Hermione, you're alright, sweetie" Ron said, kissing his girlfriend at the top of her head repeatedly to try to sooth her.
"That must have been scary, love, you're ok" Harry said as he Hermione back in her bed and the put guard rails up.
"Shhh, its ok, babe, we're right here" Ron said softly.
"I'm sorry; I'm acting like a child aren't I?" Hermione sniffed.
"No, love, you just had a fright, its ok" Ron said.
"I'm really hungry, can we have dinner please?" Hermione asked.
"Sure, love" Ron said.
"I hope you guys don't mind hospital food" Hermione said taking out a kitchen menu. Since Hermione was in the hospital for long when she was diagnosed that her digestive system was more use to that than regular food.
Hermione, Ron and Harry circled what they wanted to eat and called the kitchen to order it.
"Hospital food isn't that bad I guess" Harry said once their meals arrived.
"Hey, I ate this stuff for five weeks" Hermione said biting into her fish sticks. After dinner Harry went back to Hogwarts leaving Hermione and Ron in her room.
"Would you like to watch TV, Ron?" Hermione asked.
"A what? I'm sorry" Ron said. Hermione waved her wand in made a TV appear out of nowhere.
"This is a television, Ron. Muggles watch it for amusement" Hermione said. She changed the channel to "Friends".
"This is the show I watched most of the time when I was in hospital and isolation. It was shows like this that kept me from crying" Hermione said.
"This is a chick show isn't?" Ron asked. Hermione smiled at him.
"Well I guess you could label it a "Chick Show", but it's really funny" Hermione said. They watched it for a little bit, but it didn't really tickle Ron's fancy.
"Mione, could we please watch something else?" Ron begged. Hermione rolled her eyes in changed the channel to "Family Guy".
"Here, this should fill your manly ego; it's a cartoon show about nothing" Hermione said. Hermione fell asleep as they were watching TV and Ron turned it off and retreated to his own room not before kissing Hermione goodnight.
"Goodnight my sunshine" Ron said.
"Goodnight my angel" Hermione whispered back.
Hermione somehow managed to get her dressed and into her wheelchair by herself the next morning to go see Ron.
"Come in" Ron said.
"Morning Ronnie" Hermione said.
"How'd you? You got dressed yourself!" Ron said.
"I used a few spells, have you had breakfast yet?" Hermione asked.
"No, I was waiting for you" Ron said.
"You're so sweet; I thought we could eat in the cafeteria today. We get meals free because we're patients" Hermione said.
"That sounds good, let me take a shower and get dressed and then we'll go, sweetie" Ron said.
"Ron, don't you need to still use the wheelchair?" Hermione asked.
"The healer said to use it if I felt dizzy" Ron said.
"Ok, I just don't want you to get hurt" Hermione said.
"Thank you, babe, I'll be fine" Ron said. After Ron showered and got dressed, the couple headed for the cafeteria on the first floor.
"How much longer do we have to be here?" Ron asked.
"We leave the day before Christmas Eve" Hermione said as they started eating breakfast.
"We're stuck here until Thursday? Great" Ron said.
"Hey, don't even go there with me, Mr. How long was I in the hospital?" Hermione said.
"I know, sweetheart, I'm sorry" Ron said.
After breakfast, Ron and Hermione decided to go for a walk around the hospital.
"Can you give me hint of my Christmas present is?" Hermione asked.
"You wear it" Ron smiled.
"Thanks, that narrows it down" Hermione said.
"What about mine?" Ron asked.
"Its square" Hermione smiled. Hermione stopped when she saw a playroom. There mostly little kids in there, but there were some other teenagers too.
Ron and Hermione entered the playroom and Hermione's heart almost broke when she saw a little witch no older than six crying in a corner by herself. Hermione decided to approach the little girl with Ron behind her.
"Hi there, what's your name?" Hermione asked in a gentle tone and smiled at the little girl. The little girl looked up at the big girl in front of and smiled back hugging a stuffed puppy to her chest.
"My name's Sarah" the little girl said.
"My name is Hermione and this is Ron" Hermione said.
"Do you cancer too? I have leukemia" Sarah said.
"I have leukemia too" Hermione said.
"Do you have cancer?" Sarah asked Ron.
"No I don't. Hermione needed a bone-marrow transplant and I gave her my bone marrow" Ron said.
"I hope I don't need one of those, bone marrow tests and spinal taps are already bad" Sarah said.
"Which one do you think is worse, Sarah?" Hermione asked.
"The spinal taps, every kid knows that" Sarah said.
"How old are you, Sarah?" Hermione asked.
"I just turned six, how old are you?" Sarah asked.
"We're seventeen" Hermione said.
"Do you go to Hogwarts? I'm gonna go there when I'm bigger" Sarah said.
"Yes, we both go there" Ron smiled at the small witch.
"What house are you in? My daddy was in Ravenclaw" Sarah said.
"We're in Gryffindor" Hermione said.
"People who have cancer should be in Gryffindor because they're brave" Sarah said.
"Maybe you'll be in Gryffindor when you go to Hogwarts" Ron said.
"I like your puppy, what's his name?" Hermione asked.
"Soupy, I couldn't say Snoopy when I was a baby" Sarah said.
"I have a special stuffed animal too" Hermione went into her backpack and took out Newton.
"It's a panther! My big brother loves panthers too" Sarah said.
"I've had him since I was a baby too" Hermione said.
"What's his name?" Sarah asked.
"Newton" Hermione said.
"Why is he called Newton?" Sarah asked.
"Some of my relatives live in The States and my cousin lives in Newton Massachusetts and she gave him to me" Hermione said.
"Would please play chess with me, Hermione?" Sarah asked.
"Oh, well I'm not much of a chess player, but I'm sure Ron would love to play with you. Wouldn't you, hon?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah sure, I'll play with you, sweetie" Ron said to the little girl.
"Don't let her cuteness fool you; she's a very good at chess" one of the Child Life Specialists said.
"Oh come on! That's like the tenth time you've beaten me!" Ron said an hour later and Hermione giggled.
"We can try for eleven" Sarah said.
"Sarah, look who's here" her healer said.
"Mummy! Daddy!" Sarah squealed. The healer disconnected her for her IV and let her run to her parents. Her father picked her up and kissed her forehead.
"Time to come home, Jellybean, you want to go get Soupy and we'll go home?" Sarah's dad said. Before Sarah left with her parents, she hugged Ron and Hermione.
"Thanks for playing chess with me, Ron" Sarah said.
"You're welcome, buddy" Ron said. Hermione smiled at Ron proudly.
"You were so sweet letting her win all those games" Hermione said.
"Oh no, I didn't let her win, she actually beat me" Ron said.
"Ronald Weasely, Hogwarts chess champion lost to a little girl?" Hermione smiled.
"Hey, she was really good! But the poor thing must have a lot of time to practice; a sweet little girl like that going through all this" Ron said.
"I know she was so cute, and so brave. I bet she'll be in Gryffindor when she goes to Hogwarts. I wish I was as brave as her" Hermione said.
"You are brave, sweetie. She's a little girl; she really doesn't much a since of what's going on, you do. You can't compare a five year old girl's brain and a seventeen year old girl's brain. You both have a different since of what's going on, but you're both fighting the same battle with so much courage" Ron said.