Fall A5 - Blood
Setting E4 - Quarantine
Shipping A3 - Neighbors
Stacked With: FPC; BAON; ToS; NC; PP; SoC; Star; Fence; ER; MLG; Rum; Cluster; T3; O3; Mea
Individual Challenges: Short Jog (Y); Bucket Listing (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cakes (Y); Medic MC; Artist MC; Neurodivergent (Y); Rian-Russo Inversion (Y); Ethnic & Present (Y); Disabled (Y); Setting Sail (Y); Hold the Mayo (Y); Zed Era (Y); Gryffindor MC; Hufflepuff MC; Magical MC x2 (Yx2); Old Shoes (Y)
Primary & Secondary BCs: Where Angels Fear; Not Mozart; Second Verse (Muck & Slime; Spinning Plates; Sneeze Weasel; Not a Lamp); Chorus (Turtle-Duck; A Long Dog; Machismo; Wabi Sabi)
Tertiary & Generic BCs: O3 (Orator; Oath); (3 (Thimble); Mea (Rampant)
Word Count: 1887
Team: Earth Tones
Warnings: Illness, blood
~o0o~
She was coughing blood again. Hermione shuffled over to her balcony and opened the doors to get herself some fresh air. At least her curse wasn't getting any worse, but her symptoms varied from day to day, keeping her weak. All anyone could do these days was leave food outside her door or write her a letter. Which all had to be handled with gloves and masks. She still had her work and she had her books. The Ministry's judiciary branch was a mess and required plenty of rewrites. She would pen the legislature, send it along, and they would send it back after voting. It kept her busy, anyway.
Her life was a lonely one, but she was still holding out on the hope that a cure would be found.
Besides, she wasn't entirely alone. She had her neighbor.
Right on time, he began to play the violin. She never expected to be neighbors with Cedric Diggory. After the Tournament left him paralyzed from the waist down, he disappeared for a few years, then returned the ball of sunshine he had always been. He spent most of his days home as well, the wizarding world was about as disability friendly as the muggle world. He wrote articles for various magazines, gathering intel through his friend groups. He also seemed to be a bit of a composer.
At least, when she had asked him what songs he was playing, he would smile and just say he heard it somewhere rather than give her a name.
Settling into her chair, Hermione tipped her head towards the sun and listened to him play. Today's song was sweet and sad. It echoed down to the streets below. From her perch, she could see the flowers sent by well-wishers. They used to be given directly to her, but after an attack that almost sent her to a bubble in St. Mungo's, it was decided to keep as little contact as possible with the outside world. So flowers and gifts were left on a stand on the street where she could see them.
She didn't know what exactly caused this curse, but as it had hit her after the war, she imagined some ill-wishing pureblood had cast it on her. Part of her suspected Umbridge, but when she was put on trial for illegal use of blood quills on children, she didn't admit to anything else.
The source would be useful in breaking it, but no one had stepped forward and probably never would.
"I think that one's my favorite," said Hermione when Cedric finished playing.
"You think so?"
"Yes, what's it called?"
"Don't know."
He never knew, but she smiled.
"Can you play it again?" she asked. Despite the summer day, she was cold and wrapped her shawl tighter around herself.
"Of course." He tucked his violin under his chin and played the song.
When he finished he set it in his lap and inched closer to the railing, resting his arms on it.
"How are you feeling today?" he asked.
"Mm… the blood cough is back," she said. "I don't quite understand it. My lungs have always been clear for my check ups. At least, they don't look like I should be coughing up blood. It's like… it's hiding. To try and make the doctors question me."
"Perhaps it is," said Cedric. "Curses are strange and some of them have minds of their own. But whether or not it shows up on any tests, it doesn't negate the fact that you're having symptoms."
"I know," she said. "But I'm glad to hear someone else say it."
He smiled at her and butterflies flitted in her stomach. It seemed silly to strike up a romance with someone she couldn't even touch, but it had happened regardless. After five years quarantined from the rest of the world, she supposed she just wanted some connection aside from the hazmat-suited Healers that poked and prodded at her once a week. She took enough potions to manage her symptoms to stock a pharmacy. And yet she still couldn't do more with the man she loved than sit on separate balconies. They wouldn't even let him in by way of hazmat.
"It won't always be like this," he said, not missing her wistful expression. "I bet someday soon, a cure will be found and you'll get to go for a walk in a busy market. And when that day comes, I'm going to wrap you up in my arms and just hold you for twenty minutes straight."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Hermione's happiness quickly faded to sadness. "What are you going to do if that day never comes?"
"Then I'll make the most of any time we've got," he said. "I love you, Hermione, even though we've never been on a proper date. And the last time I ever touched your hand was when you needed help getting over the vanishing step when we were in school…"
"You remember that?"
"Of course, I do." He smiled. "I noticed you as more than just Harry Potter's best mate, you know. I'm just sad I never reached out to you then."
"Me too," she said. "I think I'd give anything right now just to sit beside you."
He swirled his wand and his patronus, a badger, climbed over the barriers and moved around her, wrapping her up in a peaceful happiness. Hermione leaned into it like a hug.
"I need to go inside and lay down," she said. "Shall we do breakfast tomorrow?"
"Sounds perfect," he said. "I love you."
"I love you, too." She kissed her fingertips and held her hand towards him as she headed back into her apartment.
~o0o~
Hermione thought she was having a good day. Her symptoms were mild and she was feeling okay. But then, as she was trying to put together her dinner, she couldn't breathe. Her nerve endings lit up like she was under the cruciatus curse. It was so much that she couldn't even scream. Choking on nothing, she stumbled over to her door. Please no. Her vision was fading. How was she even moving? Where was she going?
She was in the hallway. She fell against the door of Cedric's apartment and dragged her nails down the wood. She didn't want to be alone. Please, she didn't want to be alone.
The door opened and she crashed into the ground.
"Hermione?! Oh, my God! Hermione! What are you doing?"
"I can't!" she choked. "Don't let— me— be— alone!"
Her voice left her and she lay on the cold wooden floor, gasping and feeling weaker by the second. Then she felt the presence of someone in front of her. Two strong arms wrapped around her and held her tight.
"I'm here," Cedric murmured, stroking her hair. "You're not alone. Don't worry, I've sent for help."
She just wanted him. She couldn't see him, but she could feel him and hear him and that was enough. Her grip slackened and she felt cold. She didn't want to be cold anymore. Lips pressed to the top of her head and she soon felt nothing at all.
~o0o~
Cedric sat wrapped up in his own thoughts. He could hardly think about anything except Hermione's eyes, wide, unseeing, and frantic. How scared she looked, how desperately she clung to him until her strength left her. His first time holding her in his arms… he desperately hoped it wouldn't be the last. She was so incredibly still when the Healers came for her and he had a hell of a time following them to St. Mungo's.
He thought he saw Harry and Luna run by, but they were gone before he could be certain.
An hour passed. Then another. People came and went. He was hungry, but the tea room was on the fourth floor and St. Mungo's didn't have lifts for some strange reason. Finally, he got tired of waiting. Normally he was a patient man, but he was not going to sit around without knowing what was going on.
He went up to the greeter's desk.
"Hermione Granger," he said.
"Sorry, Miss Granger is an at-risk—"
"I'm her fiancé!" he snapped, hitting the desk with his fist. "I have a right to see her and I refuse to be kept in the dark any longer!"
The Greeter Witch stared at him, then nodded. "One moment, I'll call someone to bring you to her."
It took fifteen minutes, but he was brought to the second floor and to her room just as Luna and Harry exited.
"Cedric!" Luna ran over.
He hugged his cousin tightly.
"Luna, what's going on?" he asked. "Please tell me she's okay? Or at least not dying?"
"She's just fine actually," said Luna. "We finally found the source of the curse and went on an epic adventure for the cure. But I won't bore you with the details."
Cedric exhaled and pressed his forehead into his knees. He thought he might cry. They'd been talking about this day for years and it was finally here. She was free of her curse.
"Can I see her?" he asked.
"The Healers are checking her over," said Harry. "But she should be alright." He hesitated and looked down at his shoes. "Mione said she was seeing you, but Ron and I didn't really believe her."
"We're neighbors," said Cedric. "We started… Well, the best term for it is 'dating' I suppose. We meet every day on the balcony and we eat dinner together and talk and keep each other company. I love her. I really do. I don't know what I would have done if—if…"
"I know," said Harry. "Me neither."
The Healers stepped out, the head one turning to them. "She's just fine. Everything on her tests are normal and she's reacting normally, too. She's just very exhausted, but until we're absolutely certain she's back to normal, I think we should limit her to one visitor."
"I rarely leave my flat," said Cedric. "I wouldn't have come in contact with anything that will make her sick."
Harry nodded. "I've got to let everybody else know she's going to be alright."
Cedric unlocked his wheels and entered the room. Hermione was propped up in her hospital bed. Her brown skin no longer had that touch of grey, though her eyes were still sunken and tired. She was breathing steadily. He took her hand.
She inhaled and opened her eyes. "Cedric?"
"I'm here," he said and exhaled sharply. "I thought you were dead."
"I was." She squeezed his hand gently. "I don't… feel sick anymore. Exhausted, but not sick."
"Harry and Luna found the cure," he said. "You're going to be just fine."
"Really?"
"Yes." He held her hand against his cheek. "I know this is sort of forward, you know, since you died and everything, but do you want to go out somewhere for a date? Actually have dinner together and maybe get married? If I'm not being too forward."
She laughed and nodded. "Yes! All of it. But I seem to remember you saying the first thing you were going to do when I was no longer cursed."
Cedric hesitated and looked at the door. "Think I'll get in trouble?"
"I don't care."
He grinned and hauled himself into her hospital bed, wrapping her up in his arms and holding her tight without an ounce of selfishness. Hermione buried her face in his neck and sighed happily. They said nothing and let their minds drift with thoughts of a real future.