Author's Note: Well, it's been a while since I've made a post, but here it is: Chapter Twenty-Eight! I'll think you'll enjoy it. Oh, and as of the last time I checked the poll on my profile - which was only about ten minutes ago - Know Thy Enemy is winning!


Chapter Twenty-Eight:
"Irrational Spontaneity"

A few hours later, Piper, Leo, Wyatt, Melinda, Phoebe, Paige, Hermione, Ginny and now Harry - who'd arrived recently to help support Hermione - were still gathered in Chris' room. Like before in the attic, the hospital room was becoming increasingly unbearable. There were just too many people in one room. Hermione wasn't quite sure how much more she could take. Excusing herself to the ladies room, she got up from her chair, dislodging her hand from Chris'. Sparing a quick glance at him before she left the room, she finally determined that he would be alright without her presence for a few moments. He'd stopped calling out to her a while ago, anyhow. Walking down the vacant halls of St. Mungo's, for it was now later in the evening and the rush of patients had diminished as the country went to sleep, Hermione couldn't help but feel a slight sense of serenity. It had been months since she was this happy, despite the fact that the man she was currently interested in - she refused to call him her boyfriend because they still barely knew one another and she was still unsure if she was ready for a relationship such as that yet - was currently unresponsive and in the hospital. Entering into the loo, she laughed at the irony of it all.

"I must be mental," she said to herself as she approached the mirror.

Turning on the faucet, she splashed water on her face, running some up into her hairline. Sighing, she watched as the water ran back down her face, down her neck and down into the little bit of cleavage that her shirt brought to view. She smiled awkwardly, "Definitely mental…"

She, reaching for a towel, gave her head a little shake before she wiped the remaining water from her face, and then she left the restroom and returned to Chris' room. When she reentered, Piper, who was now sitting in the seat previously occupied by Hermione, gave a weak little smile, apologetic even. It seemed Piper felt a little guilty at having taken her seat. Hermione was not sure why; Piper was his mother, she should have been sitting there in the first place. Quickly glancing around the room, she found a seat right beside Harry on the couch that he and Ginny shared. Casually, she sat down and he put a hand on her shoulder. She smiled at him, her best friend who was more of a brother than anything, and he said, "How are you?"

She laughed at how ironic it sounded, "Oh, you know, the usual."

He laughed back, but then his smile became a grimace and Hermione could see the tell-tale twitch in his hand.

"Oh, no," she whispered. It was happening again.

Silently, she cast the 'Silencio' spell on the room; the Healers didn't need to hear this. Looking around Harry, she shot a warning glance at Ginny. Her eyes bulged out and she jumped out of her seat to come around to be face-to-face with her husband. Harry's hand on Hermione's shoulder was tensing up, his nails digging into the sensitive skin just under her shirt.

"Harry," she pleaded, "Relax. You're hurting me."

And then, almost as if he had heard her plea and could not resist it any longer, he jerked his hand away, repositioning it above his scar. It seemed that then the dam broke. He sank to the floor, a horrible groan escaping from his lips. Writhing on the floor, he practically screamed in anguish. Hermione glanced around quickly, the Halliwells were staring at Harry in horror, obviously aghast with the happenings.

Like before, Ginny surrounded Harry in her arms. "Shsh, my love," she cooed to him as she stroked his hair away from his forehead, "It's alright, you can come back to us now."

Little beads of sweat were already beginning to form at his hairline. He was tense on the floor, little whimpers emerging from his throat before finally he screamed, "SIRIUS!"

He jumped out of Ginny's grip, plummeting himself on all-fours. Hermione was quick to take up Ginny's place, entrapping him in her arms, both for his support and for his protection lest he throw himself into the wall or some other object. His hands scratched at her arms, he was desperately searching for some kind of sustenance, anything to signal that it was alright. He grunted against her, and then threw himself backwards towards Ginny again. Ginny, who hadn't been ready for the blow, tumbled backwards and, upon regaining her composure, cried, "Harry! Wake up, come to us! We're here! Everything is fine!"

He let out a low moan that greatly resembled a weeping dog. He sank back into her comforting embrace, his eyes finally opening. Gasping for breath, he managed, "Ginny…"

"What was it, love?" She questioned him as she calmly peered into his emerald eyes, "What did you see?"

"It was Sirius," his hoarse voice replied, "He was in pain, screaming. Something was trying to kill him."

Hermione's heart caught in her throat, "What was? What was trying to kill him?"

He thought for a moment and then he finally said, "I don't know. I don't remember seeing anything near him, it was almost as if the air itself was attacking him."

Hermione sighed, "We have to rescue him soon."

"I agree, I don't intend on making my godfather endure that any longer."

Hermione chanced a glance at Ginny, who caught her glance and merely shrugged. It seemed, to Hermione at least, that Ginny had come to terms - relatively speaking - with the situation with Sirius. She may not believe he was still alive, but she would go along with the charade for the sake of Harry - he needed closer. Drawing her away from her thoughts, an interrupting cough - one meant to catch attention - sounded throughout the room.

"What can we do to help?"

Hermione looked to Piper, who had spoken, and shook her head, "Don't worry about it. We can handle this on our own, I wouldn't want you to get injured on our behalf."

"No, please," Wyatt spoke up, "Let us help. We're in your debt now." And then he passed a solemn glance to his little brother, before returning a pleading gaze to the witch who was finally making him see that Chris wasn't so little anymore. He was a grown man and he was falling in love.

"I think it's a good idea; the more help we can get, the more easy it will be to save Sirius," Harry interjected.

Hermione sighed once again, and finally conceded, "Well, I'm still not sure about it but now is not the time to be discussing this. We should wait until Chris is awake and able to put in his opinion. It's only fair."

"Don't worry about me, I'm alright."

Hermione's eyes jerked towards the direction of the voice and sure enough her suspicions had been right. Chris was awake and had actually spoken! He was okay! Her lips let out a little gasp as she watched his mother and sister smother him in hugs and kisses. His brother playfully punched him on the arm, warning him to never scare him like that again. His father wrapped him in one of those endearing father-son hugs. Phoebe and Paige each hugged him and planted a kiss on his cheek. And then his attention turned toward Hermione. The intensity of his gaze was strong enough to move mountains, and it certainly sent a similar reaction upon her heart. It felt as if her heart would jump right out of her chest and land on the floor, beating for all to hear. She took in a sharp breath, her lungs suddenly feeling void of all air. His eyes permeated through her skin, her soul and she wasn't entirely sure she minded.

Suddenly, she became aware of the room's inhabitants leaving, giving the budding couple privacy in their reunion. And suddenly, she became overcome with emotions. She remembered the fear she'd had of never seeing him alive again, never hearing his voice or gazing one last time into his eyes. She remembered the betrayal, the despair that the world seemed it fitting to rid her life of any chance she had at happiness.

"How is it possible that we love each other?" she finally got the nerve to ask.

"Does it matter?"

"Yes! Yes, it does matter!" she practically shouted. "How could it not? We still hardly know anything about each other, we can't be in love."

"And why not, Hermione? It shouldn't matter how long we've known each other, or how much we know. None of that matters when it comes to love."

"But it does matter," she retorted, "Why can't you see that? It matters to me. I have to know if this is real. If…if it's really and truly possible for us to be genuinely in love. I need to know if this is just simply infatuation. I don't want to chance my heart, to risk everything only to be let down and find out that none of it was real. I don't want to be hurt again."

"I'm not your ex-boyfriend! I'm not gonna hurt you," he snapped back at her, obviously offended that she appeared not to trust him, "When are you going to wake up and realize that you're only hurting yourself? Denying yourself of your desires simply because one guy wasn't worthy of your affections. I love you, you love me. Why do you have to make everything so complicated? When are you going to listen to your heart and stop listening to your stubborn brain?"

"It's not logical, none of this is," she said, annoyed that he was smiling. How could this be funny? "It's not possible, it can't be possible. It's impossible! We are not in love!"

"Oh, sweet mother of the holy God in heaven! You're going to be absolutely impossible!"

"Going to be? What do you mean going to be?"

His response was simple, "I'm going to marry you one day."

"Well, I disagree," she replied, "I have no interest in a committing relationship at the moment."

"Ah, but you see…the key phrase is at the moment," he laughed, "Things change, Hermione dear. And besides, if you had no interest in a committing relationship, as you seem to believe, then why even go on a date with me?"

"Things change?" she shouted, blatantly ignoring the question he had asked of her. "Go ahead. Keep your head in the clouds, keep dreaming."

And then she stormed out of the room, utterly in shock at how audacious he had seemed to become after his near-death experience. Bidding goodbye to his family and to Ginny and Harry, she claimed that she was tired and that she was going home to get some rest. It was a likely excuse, after all…it was very late into the evening hours now and surely everyone was tired and would be understanding. When she appeared in her apartment, she stole her way to the cabinet in her kitchen and pulled out a glass and the bottle of Firewhiskey she kept for emergencies. Filling up the glass with a hearty shot, she let out an exasperated scream, and then downed it all in one gulp. Setting down the glass a bit harder than she intended, she never heard the floorboards creak behind her. She never heard the footsteps approach her, but she did hear the voice when it spoke to her.

"That's bad for you, you know."

Her entire body cringed at the voice. Ginny. Slowly, she spun around to face her best friend, already dreading the lecture she was sure would come. "Yes, that may be so…but it's damn good on my nerves."

"You love him," Ginny said, her tone very straightforward. "You can't deny it, no matter how hard you try. You're scared, that's easy to see. You're afraid to love because of how you were hurt. And blinded by your fear, you don't see that your only hurting yourself more than you think you'll be hurt if you surrender."

"Ginny, I don't love him. I know you think I do, but I don't. I can't. We've only been dating for a few days - and that's if you can even consider us to be dating. We've only known each other for weeks, we're still trying to learn each other, to get to know one another. We don't love each other. We just don't. The mere thought of us being in love, it's…irrational."

Ginny laughed, shaking her head, "Love is irrational, Hermione, and you just have to learn to embrace the spontaneity of it all. And you have to do it before it's gone."

"But I'm afraid of getting hurt again," said Hermione weakly.

"Well, I'm afraid it's up to you to take that risk." And then she left, returning to Merlin only knows where. Hermione sank to the floor, pondering the conversation. Was Ginny right? Should she just learn to embrace it before she lost it? Sighing, she pulled herself up from the floor. Grabbing her wand and spinning on the spot, she Apparated back to St. Mungo's. Upon arriving to Chris' hall, she found it empty. His family had returned home, presumably to get some rest as well. Cautiously, she entered Chris' room and stood before him, gazing down upon him.

"Shouldn't you be at home?" he grumbled.

"Oh, shut up, would you?" she retorted, her words a bit more harsh than she had intended.

She took a deep breath and hoped to Merlin with all her heart that she was not making a mistake, "All my life, I've told people things. Various things, things they probably didn't care about. I've never really showed anyone anything - I guess I never learned how. But now - and, mind you, this is a big step for me - I want to show you something…"

And then she kissed him.