Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry potter franchise, nor anything affiliated with it.
Hermione's POV
I'm sitting in the hospital wing once more and I find it so weird to be in here as a visitor again. The last time I was a visitor was back in the days of the Golden Trio. Back then, it was usually Ron and I visiting Harry. Now it's just me, waiting for Draco to wake up. It's been less than a day since Harry came to visit, but so much has happened since.
I was apparently revived shortly after McGonagall found us. She woke me up and asked if I knew what happened. I looked around and was shocked to see Ron passed out on the floor, and Draco unconscious and curled up in a fetal position with a huge rip on the back of his shirt, blood everywhere, and bruises on his back. I didn't know what had happened so McGonagall left the questions for later when Ron would be interrogated. She then cast Incarcerous on Ron and sent a Patronus to Professor Slughorn and Professor Flitwick so they could come and deal with Ron. After that she levitated Draco next to her and helped me to the hospital wing.
Madame Pomfrey just did a brief check on me, but I was fine. Draco on the other hand was in a much worse state. Thankfully the curse that was cast back at the airport didn't prevent McGonagall from healing his Sectumsempra wound, otherwise he probably would have died. However he did lose a lot of blood, so Madam Pomfrey had to force feed him a blood replenishing potion. His back still has a lot of bruises that will have to heal naturally, but he also has a fractured rib. That's going to be quite painful but that isn't all of the damage. His right hip was somewhat damaged and the leg itself was dislocated. Because so many injuries were inflicted, they have somehow triggered the curse to extend its reach up to his hips. Now he's going to have even more trouble walking and may never properly heal.
As I sit waiting in this chair next to Draco's bed, I can't help but feel so angry at Ron. I mean, what on Earth happened to him? He was nothing like this in our Hogwarts days. He's become so despicable and he hasn't hit any major repercussions for his actions and attitudes yet. He certainly would have expected it if the situation was reversed and Draco had attacked him. I really hope he receives some punishment for this. He's slowly destroying both mine and Draco's lives. He's already destroyed our friendship as the Golden trio. It's almost like he's this disease that is slowly seeping into my life and crushing it. It's so sad to see one my best friends fall so far.
I'm pulled out of reverie by Headmistress McGonagall. I look up to see her standing in front of me, but it takes a moment for my brain to catch up and process what she's saying.
"Hermione?"
"Sorry, yes?"
"I was just saying that Mr. Weasley is about to be interrogated in the Auror department in London. The department has asked if you would like to be there to hear it. Mr. Potter will be there as well with you, but neither of you will have direct contact with him as you know him fairly well. If something changes in Mr. Malfoy's condition we will send a message to you up there. If you would like to come, follow me to my office. You can use the floo network to get there."
"Um… I think I'll go. As long as Harry's there as well. I don't think I'll be able to listen to Ron if no one else is there." She nods and then continues.
"In that case, please follow me. Feel free to bring your purse, just know that they will have to conduct a brief search of it when you get there in case you're trying to break Mr. Weasley free."
"That's fine." I then get up to follow her out. I take one last glance at Draco and squeeze his hand once before leaving the hospital wing.
The walk to her office is fairly short and it feels so weird to not have to wait or help Draco there. It feels like I'm missing someone. I guess I've gotten used to our slow walks together.
We walk into her office and she pulls out a pouch of floo powder from inside her desk. She then stretches out her arm to let me take some.
"Just say 'Auror Department London'." I nod, throw in the powder, step into the emerald green flames, and yell "Auror Department London!" with as much clarity as possible.
I stumble out of the fireplace when I arrive and brush off the ash from my uniform. I wait for McGonagall to come out which doesn't take very long.
"I'm just here to escort you to them, after that I'll have to return and deal with some issues in the school concerning Mr. Weasley's sudden appearance." She then sighs and starts to lead me down a hallway on our left. After taking a couple more turns and passing various desk spaces and offices, we come to counter similar to that of a hospital's reception desk. We walk up to the man sitting there and he asks if he could weigh our wands. We both hand over our wands as he does this and I take a look around.
The area has black tiled floors and white walls are covered in rough stucco. My mother used to call them 'man-eating walls' as they are very sharp if you fall onto it and can even cut you it you aren't careful. There are two plants next to the counter but they seem out of place in this chamber, which is otherwise bare. I feel like the guard here must get very bored out here and it shows in how he deals with us. He soon hands us our wands back and then asks if he can search my purse. I hand it over to him and he begins to rummage around in it. I cringe as I hear bottles and other items rattle around in there while he does this and I can only think about how it'll be later when I have to re-organize it again.
He hands back my purse and hands the two of us a little plastic badge each. "Go down this hallway on the left and go in the 6th door down. Auror Potter should be waiting there for you."
We follow his directions down the hall and enter that door. Inside, like he said, is Harry wearing his full Auror uniform. He stares at a panel of one-way glass at Ron who is tied to a chair in the interrogation room. Harry looks up to see McGonagall and me and comes over to say hi.
"Headmistress, it's nice to see you again even if the circumstances aren't the best."
"Oh come now, Potter. You can just call me McGonagall, it's not like you're going to school anymore. And yes, it is nice to see you again. Unfortunately however, I do have to leave now to attend to some more business back at the school. I'll have to see you another time."
"Of course, goodbye... McGonagall." She then leaves Harry and I alone, shutting the door behind her. He then turns and addresses me.
"It's so weird calling her Headmistress and even weirder calling her McGonagall to her face. I'm so used to calling her 'Professor'."
"I totally agree with you. Hello by the way."
"Right, hello. Okay, Ron's interrogator will be here in about 5 minutes. I'm so shocked that he attacked you guys in Hogwarts though. He was supposed to be assisting with a mission in Northern England, but it turns out he called in sick that day. At least, that's what the Auror in charge of that mission said."
"That's weird. However we just have to wait a little bit longer and then we can hear the story from Ron himself." He nods and turns to face the glass again. Ron sits in the room quietly and just stares right in our direction, almost like he knows we're here.
"It's so hard seeing him there. He shouldn't be in that chair. What on Earth happened to him that he tried to kill someone? I'd be surprised if he doesn't end up serving some time in Azkaban for this stunt. For goodness sakes, I don't care what our history with Malfoy is, Ron attacked an injured student in a school!" I squeeze Harry's hand because I know exactly what's going through his head right now. The three of us were supposed to be above all of it. We were supposed to be the perfect rays of hope. Now Ron's gone and fallen, what about us. Obviously no one is immune to evil, and it's scary to think what the three of us could accomplish if we all took the easy road like Ron.
We wait quietly for the Auror who's supposed to question Ron arrives. He enters the room that Ron is in and we both snap our heads up in anticipation. We are able to hear them speaking through a spell.
"Auror Ronald Weasley, I'm here to speak with you about what happened at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on Sunday December 8th at approximately 7:20 and your role in the events that took place thereafter. This will be fairly simple, I'll ask a question and you just have to answer it. At the end of our session you may state any other information or opinions that you want, that were not covered in the direct questioning period. Is that clear?"
"Yes." Ron speaks with a very clipped even tone which unsettles me quite a bit. It doesn't sound right to hear that tone from Ron. He was always so lively when we were kids and was always varying his tone.
"In that case I shall begin. We'll start simple. Yesterday a Ms. Granger and a Mr. Malfoy were walking back from the entrance hall of Hogwarts. On their way back to their room, they were confronted by a man who then proceeded to cast a Stupefy spell on Ms. Granger. He then physically assaulted Mr. Malfoy who was already previously injured in a Death Eater attack 12 days ago. After that, Mr. Malfoy was attacked by the Sectumsempra curse. At around that time, Headmistress McGonagall came across the scene and Stupefied the man responsible. That man according to eyewitness account was you Mr. Weasley. This also backed up with proof that your wand was used to cast both of these spells. Do you deny this accusation?"
"No, I do not." He says in an uninterested tone. It really scares me to listen Ron right now. His indifference just sounds wrong in light of the situation.
"In that case, there are a couple of questions I have to ask you. Were Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy your targets or was it just a statement?"
"My target was Malfoy. Hermione was Stupefied to keep her out of the way. I didn't want her to get hurt." I feel even more confused now. It sounds like Ron had honourable intentions, but they were twisted due to some unknown factors.
"How did you know that Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy would be there at that time?" I'm curious to know the answer to this as well.
"I found out that Harry would be going to visit them at Hogwarts because he mentioned it to my mum. I decided that Malfoy wouldn't expect me to attack him there so I disillusioned myself and waited outside the school throughout the day till I saw Harry leave. I didn't really know when and where they would be, but I kept an eye on them the whole time. Once Harry left, I followed them and ran ahead at one point." The thoroughness of what he did is shocking. You can tell he put a lot of thought into what he did, and it makes me wonder if it's really Draco or Ron who's the Slytherin now.
"Why did you attack them in the first place, did you and Mr. Malfoy have any history before this incident?" I almost laugh at his question. Of course they had a history, why go through all that trouble to try and assault, if not kill, someone if they didn't have a history?
"Yes, Malfoy and I do have a history. We never liked each other in school and he picked on my best friends. He was a Death Eater and just barely escaped Azkaban. Now he's trying to steal my girlfriend by brainwashing her." When he says this, I feel so guilty. Ron obviously still loves me, but I don't think I could ever love him now. I don't think it was ever going to work. My guess is that all of this stemmed from a broken heart, and no one to pin the blame on.
"In that case since you haven't denied anything that you were accused of, you are hereby charged with two counts of assault including the use of Sectumsempra on a disabled civilian, use of Stupefy on a civilian, use of physical assault on a disabled civilian, neglecting your duties as an Auror, and resisting orders.
You will most likely be sentenced with 6 months in Azkaban for these offences, however we will discuss your sentence and inform you of the final verdict within the next 24 hours. We have provided you with living quarters for the interim where you will be given the appropriate meals. You may also have up to 2 visitors during your stay as well as write 2 letters or make 2 calls or a combination. You are free to leave this room once I undo your handcuffs, though you must follow the guard outside to your room." The interrogator then remove the cuffs and leaves. Ron sits there for a minute rubbing his wrists and then very calmly gets up to go out.
I turn to Harry with sadness in my eyes and a heavy heart. Despite Ron's shortfalls and mistakes, I don't think he quite deserves Azkaban. They may have gotten rid of the Dementors, but it's still an awful place to be. It's even sadder when you see how resigned he is to the fact that he was caught and there is very little that could alleviate or lessen his sentence.
"Well that clears up a bit of information." Harry finally says after we sit there quietly for about 5 minutes.
"Yes it did." I pause for a moment before speaking again. "I had better get going, it's getting late and I don't want to disturb McGonagall too much. Hopefully we can meet up again soon."
"Yes, hopefully. I'll escort you to the floo station so you don't get lost. It's pretty confusing here. I got lost about 5 times my first week here." I laugh as he says this because of how it reminds me of our first year at Hogwarts.
"Thanks Harry, I'm glad to call you my best friend. I really hope that that never changes." As I say those last words I hug him tightly. I don't want my friends to change, I don't think I'll be able to bear it if I lose more of them. I've lost too many loved ones for that. He hugs me back and we stay there for a couple moments.
We release each other and then leave the room. We walk back down the hallways till we get to the station. I grab some powder from the basket by the fire and turn back to say goodbye.
"Bye Harry, I'll see you again sometime soon."
"Bye Hermione, say hi to Ginny for me."
"Will do, bye." I then turn back to the fire and throw in the powder. I step in and yell "Headmistress McGonagall's office, Hogwarts!"
With a woosh I stumble out on the other end into her office and straighten myself out.
"Ah Ms. Granger. I was beginning to worry about where you were. I'm glad I didn't have to send a search party."
"Hello Headmistress."
"You have about 45 minutes if you want to check on Mr. Malfoy before Pomona closes up the hospital wing for the evening." I check my watch and see that she's right. I didn't think that that much time had passed.
"Thank you. Actually I wanted to ask you a question." I'd thought about this quite a bit over the last few days, but I just remembered it.
"Go ahead."
"Well, you haven't found a muggle studies professor right?"
"That is correct."
"Since we're almost at the end of the semester and there isn't too much to do besides review for exams, I was wondering if we could do a final project. We would each work in pairs and research a different unit in the muggle studies curriculum. Then we would present it to the class using some sort of muggle presentation software or technique. You could supervise us, or we could even appoint a prefect for each class in the meantime. That would give you more time, till next semester, to find a new professor and we would still be learning. Exams wouldn't as much of a challenge then."
"That's an excellent idea Ms. Granger. I'll have to discuss this with the other heads of houses first but I'll get back to you by Tuesday at the latest. If we go ahead with your idea, classes will resume for muggle studies on the Wednesday then. If you could perhaps start working on a rubric or project outline and send it to me by tomorrow evening that would be great."
"Thank you very much professor." I say.
"Your welcome."
"Well, I guess I'd best be going now. Good night." I say as I turn to walk out of her office.
"Good night Ms. Granger." I hear her say as I exit.
I walk back to the hospital wing and get there with 10 minutes to spare before Madame Pomfrey is supposed to close up. I pick my way through the beds and find Draco in his usual bed at the back. He's still asleep, but there's a bit more colour in his face than there was when I last saw him. I sit in the chair by his bedside and hold his hand. I cradle it close to my chest and rest my head on it.
"Please wake up Draco. Don't leave me hanging. I need your help and support with a new muggle studies solution. If you skimp out on this, I'll have to deduct marks from your mark." I say in a semi-serious way. I laugh quietly while I just think quietly to myself.
Madame Pomfrey taps my shoulder at some point and I sit up quickly.
"Ms. Granger, I'm going to have to ask you to leave now. It's getting quite late and we should all be getting some sleep."
"Of course, I'll go now." She nods and then walks away. I pick up my purse, which I left on the ground to make more space for me on the chair, and stand up. I turn back to Draco and say good night.
I squeeze his hand once before letting go and leaving the hospital wing to go back to my dorm. My now empty dorm. My dorm that may remain quiet and lonely for the next few days. My dorm that I share with an almost comatose Draco. My dorm that will wait for Draco just like I will.
Author's Note: I'm sorry about the later updates. I've decided that updates will probably come every other day or so most of the time, with the exceptions of December because it's the Christmas season and I'm kind of busy with plays and stuff, January because of exam prep and exams, and June because of exam prep and exams. For those months, updates will probably closer to 3-4 days. Again, thanks for the support. I love your reviews and the feedback is great. Please review! Have a great week, till next time!