Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
A/N: Thanks to PenguinLord0029, who beta this story.
Chapter Forty-Nine
The End of the Year
She closed her eyes quickly, it was a naturally reaction when one is expecting to seeing blazing eyes … especially when you know that they can kill you. However, the split second that her eyes had been open she saw a scene that was completely different than the one of just a second ago.
"You're okay," she heard a kind voice said and she realized that it was Madam Pomfrey.
"I was petrified," Hermione sighed, opening her eyes and looking up at the nurse, realizing that she was in the hospital wing and those that had also been petrified were now coming to. Her eyes searched for Penelope Clearwater, hoping the other girl would be there, and felt relieved when she found her across the room (knowing that if she wasn't there it wouldn't have been good for Penelope).
"I'm afraid so," Madam Pomfrey said glumly. "But you and all the other are going to be fine now."
"Right," Hermione said and she was about to tell her everything that she had learned about the monster, things that she knew would be useful but she realized that she was no longer holding the piece of paper in her hand. As she wondered where it went, Madam Pomfrey walked away to the next person that had been petrified. "Wait … I have something …"
Madam Pomfrey turned to face her but Hermione's attention was now on the doors of the hospital where she noticed that a very grimy looking Ginny had entered, and that she was followed by her parents. Her mind was filled with so much curiosity that she forgot all about telling the nurse what she found out, as she long to ask what had happened with Ginny, but she didn't get up. There was just something so terrifying about what Ginny looked like that made Hermione feel uncomfortable to even look at her.
She was still thinking about this when Ron walked into the hospital wing, looking almost as grimy as Ginny was and was closely followed by Lockhart. There was obviously something wrong with Lockhart's expression … he had a childlike innocent about him that had never been there before. She shook her head, she didn't want to spare anymore time on Lockhart, and she had admitted to herself that Harry had been right about him all along and that she had been foolish to believe everything that she had read.
Ron, on the other hand, had her full attention as he walked over to his family, walking through the curtains that were surrounding his sister. She was more curious than ever and was even about to get up when Ron walked back out of the curtains and caught her eyes.
"Hermione!" Ron said as he smiled at her and she felt the weirdest fluttered in her stomach. He walked over to sit next to her, "you're awake."
"Yeah," Hermione said realizing that she was smiling back at him. "What's going on? Did something happen …?" she added with a frowned, looking towards where Ginny was.
"Yeah … a lot happened," Ron said grimacing and then added in a soft voice that only she could hear. "Harry almost got himself killed again …"
"What?" Hermione exclaimed.
"Saving Ginny," Ron added in the same tone. "I'm sure he could tell you the story better than I can … and it's probably better if we wait …"
"If you wanted to wait then you shouldn't have said that Harry almost died and Ginny … what happened?" Hermione asked again.
"Yeah … you are probably right," Ron rubbed the back of his head. "I shouldn't have said that."
"Stop stalling and tell me what happened," Hermione demanded and Ron chuckled.
"I'm glad you're back, Hermione," Ron smiled at her and again her stomach fluttered.
"Thanks," was her response to that.
"No thank you, you really helped us," Ron said and when she looked confused he added, "Though I never expected you would ever have ripped a page out of a book, but it really helped us out."
"I was in a hurry," Hermione blushed and then she looked at Ron terrified. "Wait … you saw the Basilisk!"
"No, I never did," Ron shook his head. "But you're going to the end of the story … if you want to hear what happened let me tell you right."
"Fine," she agreed and he started telling her everything that happened since she was petrified, starting with Harry and him going to Aragog, Hagrid's spider friend, to going down into the Chamber of Secrets.
"So Ginny was the one that had the diary before Harry," Hermione muttered as Ron finished. "And it was controlling her to open the Chamber."
"Yeah," Ron frowned. "That's what Dumbledore said was happening."
It was only then that Hermione realized how upset Ron was about this. It wasn't like she couldn't tell before that he was sad about what was going on with his sister but at this moment, she felt that it was something more. She grabbed his hand and noticed that Ron's ears turned red but she pressed on before he could pull away from her. "Ron … what's the matter?"
He looked up and gave her a weak smile before he looked back towards where his sister was. Just when she thought he wasn't going to respond to her he said, "I didn't notice … she was going through hell and I didn't even notice …"
"I don't think that's true," Hermione said softly. "I've seen you watching her … you always looked concerned …"
Ron grimaced at what she said before he added, "that just makes me feel worse … I should have done something to help her …"
"I know you would have if you really had a chance," Hermione said. "Don't blame yourself for what happened. You're the kind of guy that would do anything to help your friends and family …"
"Argh, don't say things like that," Ron made a face at her but she noticed that he was smiling. She could tell that he didn't really want to talk about this anymore so she tried to change the subject by asking about their classes and the other things that she had missed. All the while, she planned on talking to Ginny as soon as she could get the chance, hoping that she could help the other girl out.
O
It wasn't until the next more that she got her chance. She had been released from the hospital only hours after she woke up and had spent the rest of the night in her room. She was now sitting in the common room talking with Harry and he was telling her more about what had happened. She sort of liked Ron's version better, because Harry went into scary and vivid details about everything that had happened.
"You really are lucky you survive all that," Hermione frowned.
"I know," Harry agreed. "And I'll be lucky if I survive until my thirteen birthday after I tell Sirius and Remus about what I did. Especially, after I promised Sirius I would try to keep out of danger …"
"Well, you should have thought of that before you endangered your life … several times," she said.
"I did," Harry said. "Every time I was about to do something stupid … I thought of this."
"But then you put aside your better judgment and did it anyway," Hermione rolled her eyes.
"No … I thought about you … or at the end Ginny … and knew that there were more important things," Harry shrugged. "I'll take the screaming match that's coming any day."
Hermione didn't know what to say about that, so she just smiled at him. It wasn't long after that that Ron came downstairs and the boys went down to have breakfast, but she insisted that she wasn't very hunger and she wanted to stay. She practically had to force them to go, but eventually Harry got that she wanted to be along and dragged Ron off with him. After they were gone, she made her way to the first year girl's dormitory and knocked on the door. There was no answered but she was sure someone was in there … she sighed before opening the door.
As she thought, Ginny was there, in her bed. She wasn't moving and Hermione wasn't sure if she was awake or just lost in thought but she wasn't going to leave the room until she talked to Ginny.
"What do you want?" Ginny asked in a soft voice, she was still looking at the opposite wall.
"The boys told me what happened," Hermione answered, not sure how to start this off. When Ginny didn't answer, she went on. "I just wanted you to know that I don't blame you … you know … for what happened to me."
Ginny looked at her then with fear and hope in equal measure.
"It has to be hard … that your diary was the one that betrayed you …" Hermione pressed on.
"I should have realized sooner what was happening," Ginny frowned, Hermione had plenty of things to say to this, but she could tell that Ginny wouldn't listen to them. "And you can't say it's not my fault about what happened to you … I knew what the diary was doing by that time …" she broke down before she turned away again, not being able to look at Hermione any longer.
"And you wanted me to be petrified?"
"What!" Ginny couldn't help but turning back to face Hermione looking at the other girl incredulously. "Of course not!"
"Then why did you steal the diary back from Harry?"
"Do you always ask questions like this?" Ginny looked down.
"Yeah … I'm just annoying like that," Hermione said. "I was just curious as to why you would take it back …"
Ginny grimaced before saying, "I saw Harry had it … figuring out how to use it … I was afraid of what T …" she could not go on talking about this as she bit her lip.
"You were trying to protect Harry," Hermione smiled at that. "I can understand wanting to do that."
"Yeah, but I bet you didn't causes two more students to be petrified when you tried to help," Ginny grumbled. "I was so stupid … but I couldn't help it … it was so hard …"
"Ginny," Hermione sighed and sat next to the girl on the bed before she pulled her into a hug. Ginny didn't have the strength to struggle and she didn't really want to … she just took comfort in the fact that someone was here hugging her after everything that happened. Hermione didn't talk anymore, nor did she push Ginny to tell her about anything that happened, she was just there for her.
O
Harry and Ron were walking back up to the common room after an excellent breakfast when the twins, who were looking upset about something, stopped them. Harry was sure he didn't want to go anywhere alone with them with the expression they had, but they didn't seem to want to take no for an answer. They lead him and Ron to the secret corridor behind the mirror and preformed the charm he always does when he doesn't want anyone to over hear them.
"What the hell is the matter with you?" Fred asked as soon as they were there.
"Um …" was all Harry could think to say as he didn't really know what the twins were so upset about.
"Why didn't you bring us with you?" George added.
"I didn't think …" Harry started.
"That's the same excuse you had last year!" Fred huffed. "Don't you get that we would want to help you? After the spider incident I thought you would have realized that you might need our help!"
"All I wanted to do was help … I didn't know that we were going to end up going into the Chamber," Ron said. "I had to try to do something … can't you understand that."
"Yes! We can!" the twins both said at the same time and Harry could see that they would have done anything to help Ginny … and them.
"I'm sorry," Harry sighed. "Everything happened really fast and we didn't have time to tell anyone. Besides, after looking at your faces yesterday, I don't think I could have asked you. You guys looked terrible."
"Thanks man," George glared at him.
"You do know that if it wasn't for the fact that you saved our sister's life, you would be sorry about now," Fred added. "But it's hard to prank a guy after all that."
"Well, that's good to know," Ron said looking relieved, knowing how bad Fred and George's pranks could be when they were emotional. "Do you think we can go back to the common room now?"
"Why are you in such a hurry?" Fred said, now smirking. "This doesn't have anything to do with a certain Miss Granger no longer being petrified, now does it?"
"Aw look, his ears are turning red," George sniggered, and wrap his arm around Ron. "Isn't that cute?"
"Shut up!" Ron grumbled, pushing away from his brother before leaving the corridor.
"What did I say?" George said trying to look innocent before laughing even more than ever.
"I think you got too close to the truth," Harry chuckled too. "Are you coming or do you got other plans?"
O
The last few days of term ended without any more trouble, they didn't have to take any tests because Dumbledore said they were to be canceled, which everyone seemed to be happy about except for Hermione. Harry couldn't understand how she would want to take test after missing the last month or so of classes, not to mention all the review time she normal takes, but didn't bothered questioning her. She was just weird that way. The end of term feast was as delicious as it was last year, and the fact that they won the house cup again this year made it even better.
They had got a compartment at the end of the train on their way home. Neville, Luna, the twins and Ginny were all with them. Harry frowned when Ginny didn't seem to be able to talk to him anymore than she had before, but he wasn't about to say anything about that for now. He just hoped that this wouldn't last long. On the plus side, she was able to talk to the others in front of him again … especially to Hermione, who she seemed to have gotten closer to. He was glad that they had become closer friends … Ginny really needed that at this point.
He noticed that Luna had seemed to be a little different than usually though, as she sat in the corner of the compartment, staring out the window. She didn't even bring up one of her creatures the whole time and that made Harry feel uncomfortable. At the end of the ride, he grabbed her arm, and asked her to stay.
"Is something wrong?" Harry asked.
"I just feel bad," Luna sighed. "I should have said something sooner … she was different the whole year … but I just had to believe that it was some stupid creature and Ginny almost …"
"Luna!" Harry exclaimed, startling the girl. "I don't want to hear you say that."
"What?" Luna frowned at him.
"Calling one of your creatures stupid," Harry said. "I'm not saying that I believe that they're real or anything … I like seeing proof of things before … this is not important. I just don't want you to stop believe in such things … it's what makes you who you are."
"But," Luna bit her lip. "If I didn't think it was the Dumberries I would have realized …"
"You're forgetting something, Luna," Harry interrupted her again. "None of us could see that something was affecting Ginny at all. If it weren't for your belief in those kinds of things, you wouldn't have been able to see anything. The way you look at the world lets you see things that others cannot, and that is very important … It's an amazing quality."
Luna smiled at him weakly than, "Thanks Harry."
"Anytime Luna," Harry chuckled. "Come on; let's catch up with the others."
The others were still waiting at the barrier before they could make their way to the Muggle station. He would be going to the Burrow first and Sirius and Remus were going to meet him there.
"So mate," Ron said turning to his friend as they piled into the old Ford Anglia, "Do you think that next year we might stay out of trouble?"
"I honestly have no idea what's going to happen next year," Harry shrugged. "But something tells me that's not possible."
A/N: So, I am with Harry, I have no idea what is going to happen in his next year, I just have some rough ideas. Something tells me it is going to be shorter than the third book and I am going to mostly focus on the Animagus transformation and then something else that I will have to think of. That being said, I hoping that I will be able to come up with more original work for now on (though of course the fourth year will probably go back to being close to the book) seeing as this is where things can really start to change. I just want to add that I am going to be taking two weeks off, hopeful I will be able to think of something good in that time.
