Chapter 21

Much to her dismay, Hermione was ushered into an empty room where a healer gave her a full check-up.

"Everything seems to be in order", the man concluded after almost an hour. "Only a few scrapes and bruises."

"I told you I was fine!", she huffed, sitting on the middle bed of the three available ones. It was past noon now and she was beyond irritated at the slowness of the whole process.

"Nonetheless", he dismissed her, "I want to keep you here for the next twelve hours under observation, just to be sure."

She opened her mouth in anger, but in that moment, someone knocked on the door.

"Enter!", she yelled.

Harry came into the room and before she could say anything, the healer slipped out of the door.

"Everything okay?", Harry asked as he sat down on the bed by her feet.

"Fine", she nodded, "But they want to keep me here until tomorrow."

"Just do it Hermione", he said seriously, taking her hand. "You're the Minister of Magic, they can't risk letting you go home just yet."

"If I have to", she frowned. "Are they released?"

He nodded, not even bothering to ask her who she was talking about.

"I just sent Malfoy and Zabini home", he told her, "Nott and Goyle have to stay under observation as well."

"Good", she smiled, relaxing into the pillows. "Thank you Harry."

He nodded and stood.

"I have to get back to the office", he told her, "But I'm leaving two aurors here on guard duty."

"If you have to", she frowned.

"I do", he grinned, "Just like the healer, I can't risk your health either. I notified Ron where you were, he'll be here any minute now."

He opened the door and if on cue, Ron almost fell into the room.

"Hi mate", he greeted Harry, "Hermione! Are you okay?"

He strolled up to the bed with his hands in his pockets.

"Sure, I'm fine. They want to keep me for observation", she told him. "I didn't make it to the bakery though."

"Bugger", he frowned, "Harry, can I eat with you guys?"

"Sure, no problem", he shrugged, still standing by the door giving instructions to the guards.

"Great", he said enthusiastically, "And it's past lunchtime. Let's go, I'm famished!"

Harry frowned a little as Ron just walked away from Hermione without even a kiss goodbye, but said nothing.

"Oh... okay", he said, "You'll be okay?"

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll be fine Harry", she said giving him a sad little smile. "You just go, I'm going to rest a little."

"Okay", Ron piped up, "Until tomorrow Hermie, bye!"

Without another glance he walked out of the room, with a frowning Harry following suit.

She sighed and snuggled back into the cushions. Just because she was used to being taken for granted by her husband, didn't mean that it didn't still stung.

Maybe she could go to the cafeteria, she hadn't eaten anything yet. She crawled out of bed, but when she wanted to leave the room, she was stopped by her guards.

"You can't leave the room Madam, Head Auror's orders", one of them told her.

"Well I missed lunch, so the nurses won't bring me anything", she argued, "Are you going to get me something?"

"We're not allowed to leave the door Madam", he told her, "You'll have to find someone else or wait for dinner."

With a huff she closed the door and crawled back into bed. How would she find anyone to bring her food it she couldn't leave? She cast a few privacy spells around her and cross called the rest of the Order.

"Hey", she said when she had all of them on her mirror, the sadness obvious in her voice, "Are you okay?"

"Fine", Blaise confirmed, "Are you okay Princess?"

"Sure", she said, "They're keeping me here for observation, just to be sure."

"Are you really sure?", Draco asked, still concerned. "Potter kicked me out, but if you need me I swear to Salazar..."

"Draco I'm sure", she smiled, "This bed isn't too shabby."

"You got a bed?", Theo asked. "Bloody favouritism..."

"Of course I got a bed...", she said confused. "Wait, you didn't get one?"

"They told us all beds were taken", Greg answered, "They put us in a pair of those highly uncomfortable waiting room chairs."

"They did WHAT?", she seethed. "For fuck's sake, they better hide when I get out of here."

They all just chuckled at her fury.

"Theo, Greg, come find me. There are two empty beds in this room", she ordered. "And bring me a sandwich, I haven't eaten yet."

"Whatever you want Princess", Theo grinned and he and Greg left the call.

"Well, I've got to go too", Blaise drawled, "Your emergency call interrupted my beauty sleep. Ta!"

Draco rolled his eyes as Blaise left and she giggled.

"Thank you for coming to my aid Draco", she smiled.

"Anything for you Sweetheart", he winked. "If you need anything at all, call me."

"Will do", she said, "I'll write you tomorrow."

"Call me", he insisted, "I won't be happy until I see your face."

"Ah", she smiled, "Anything to make you happy."

"Really?", he smirked, "I'll remember that."

A knock sounded on her door.

"I have to go", she told him, "Theo and Greg are here."

"Okay", he said reluctantly, "Bye Sweetheart."

She closed the connection and walked to the door.

"Come in", she said, opening the door.

She gasped a little as she saw Theo in a wheelchair and Greg with his arm in a mitella. Wearily the guards let them pass and she slammed the door in their faces.

"Nobody told me you were injured this badly!", she fussed, helping Greg to get Theo on a bed.

"We're fine Princess", Theo soothed her, "It's just a broken ankle. "Should be better in twenty four hours."

"And you?", she asked Greg whilst opening the wrapper around her sandwich.

"Sprained wrist and a few burns", he shrugged, making himself comfortable on the other bed.

She was distracted by the wheelchair bumping against the door.

"They're charmed to go to where they're needed", Theo said, "Can you let it out?"

She did as he asked, finished her lunch an crawled back into the middle bed.

"So", Theo asked folding his hands on top his stomach, "Why isn't Weasel here?"

"Ron isn't really the... caring type", she said quietly.

"Never? Did he at least help you out with the kids, you know, when they were small?", Greg asked.

Why she was still with that unappreciative prick was beyond him, but good fathers always had bonus points.

"He did his best I guess", she said, staring at her fingers. "Rose was what they call a high demand baby. Though she laughed easily, she was rarely kept entertained by her toys for very long and she never slept for long either, night or day. It was a trying time, especially combined with a fulltime job."

She looked up at Greg.

"I don't even think Ron actually saw the problem", she continued. "I was always the one getting up for her several times a night and I had to get her ready and drop her off at Molly's for the day each morning and pick her up again. In the evening, I'd ask Ron to look after his daughter, just for half an hour so I could get a breather."

"And he didn't?", Theo asked.

"Yes he did", she said, "But he blamed me for it too."

"He said that you couldn't?", he asked.

"Not directly", she answered, staring at her fingers again. "He just talked to Rose, told her things like 'mommy's not interested in you' or 'mommy's addicted to books, she doesn't want you'. Like I was an unfit mother."

"That's horrible!", Greg exclaimed.

"It wasn't always like that", she said turning back to him. "Other times he did take care of Rose, but he'd order me around with things like 'clean her pacifier' or 'get me some tea'. And when I got fed up with it and told him that I couldn't do everything at the same time, he'd say something like 'yeah obviously, we know that'."

"He sounds like an arse", Theo frowned.

"He really could be at times", she said with a sad smile. "But what can you do if you love someone? He has his good moments too."

Only in this time she was wondering more often than not if her marriage was all worth it anymore.