"What are you doing?" Harry had just arrived at St. Mungo's to see Ginny. It had been three days since he and Ginny had talked and they had been closer than ever. Harry's professors had revoked his privilege of spending his days at the hospital since Ginny was now awake, but after seeing the horrified look on his face at this news, Professor McGonagall told him that he could go to St. Mungo's on the days he got out of classes early. He wasn't going to argue but it had been little consolation to think of Ginny being alone and in pain.

The way things were going, he would've done just as well to continue missing school since he couldn't focus on anything that was said in any of his classes. When he wasn't in class with Ron, both of them were in the hospital wing with Hermione. Harry, however, was frequently driving his best friends mad with his pacing and fidgeting, although Hermione was amused more often than annoyed. Today was Thursday, though, and Harry was able to leave school early. He was accompanied as usual by Lupin who dropped him off at the hospital entrance and disapparated once Harry had gone inside. Making his way through the halls, Harry had come to a stop in the doorway to Ginny's room only to find her trying to pull back the sheets and attempting to inch her way to the edge of her bed.

At the sound of his voice, she stilled and then lifted wide, innocent eyes to look at him, "Hello, Harry. What are you doing here?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, "I got out of classes early and came to see you. You were trying to get out of bed, weren't you?"

Giving up her facade of innocence, Ginny lifted her head and gave him a defiant look, "Yes, I was as a matter of fact. Would you mind making yourself useful and helping me?"

"Yes, I would. The doctor said you have to stay in bed," Harry moved to stand next to Ginny and pulled the sheets back over her legs. From the look of frustration on her face, it had taken a lot for Ginny to move the sheets as far as she did. Harry knew she hated feeling helpless and he'd been stuck in the school infirmary enough times to know how that felt.

"When have you ever listened to the doctor? What about all those times you fought with Madam Pomfrey when she made you stay in bed?"

"This is different!" Harry said.

"How is it any different?" Ginny asked.

Because this time it's you that's hurt, Harry thought. Before he could come up with a good enough answer, there was a knock on the doorframe and Dr. Wilson came into the room, "Hello Ginny, how are you doing?"

"I'm good, just ready to go back to school," Ginny sighed.

"Are you feeling better after earlier?" Dr. Wilson looked at her.

Harry froze and he saw Ginny's gaze flick up to him before quickly going back to the doctor, "Yes, much better."

"What do you mean? What happened earlier?" Harry demanded.

"It's no big deal, Harry, it was just some pain," Ginny said calmly.

"What happened?" he repeated.

Ginny let out another sigh, "Go ahead and tell him, doctor, he won't believe me if I say it was nothing."

Dr. Wilson gave a small smile, "Ginny had a recurrence of the pain from the Cruciatus Curse. That particular curse does quite a bit of damage as you know and it's not uncommon for someone recovering from it to have a brief, but intense, wave of pain that feels like they're under the curse again."

"Why didn't you send an owl or something to let me know?" Harry rounded on Ginny.

"Oh, stop it, Harry. I'm perfectly fine, aren't I Dr. Wilson?"

"To be completely honest, you are recovering remarkably well considering what you've been through. But that doesn't mean that you're free to do whatever you want. It's going to be a while before you can support your own weight, so you'll be in the school infirmary until then."

"So when can I go back?" Ginny questioned.

"As long as you follow my orders and listen to your school nurse then I see no reason why you can't go back today," Dr. Wilson smiled.

Ginny turned to beam at Harry but he wasn't looking at her, his eyebrows were scrunched together and he was frowning. "Harry?"

Harry swung his gaze to her and then to the doctor, "Are you sure she's okay to leave? What if she has more of that pain? What if she falls and makes herself worse?"

"Mr. Potter I can assure you that if I thought Ginny was not ready to leave then she wouldn't be. I'm not in the habit of releasing my patients before they're better. Ginny has a long road ahead of her but if the spirit she's shown while she's been here is any indication of how she usually is then I think it's safe to say that a full recovery is in her future."

Harry instantly regretted his choice of words. He hadn't meant to cast doubt on the doctor's abilities, especially since he'd saved Ginny's life, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound like I didn't trust you."

Dr. Wilson waved away Harry's apology, "I understand and I know how much you care for her. I've been a doctor for twenty years and I have yet to have someone come as close to hitting me as you did." The doctor smirked and Harry turned pink as Ginny's gaze shot to his.

"Hermione wasn't kidding about that?"

"Uh...well," Harry stammered.

"No, she wasn't," Dr. Wilson spoke up. "I'll go send a message to your school that they can send someone to bring you two back." The doctor turned and left the room, leaving a still worried Harry and a relieved Ginny behind him.

"Oh, it's going to be so nice to be back at Hogwarts! It's been awful not having anyone to talk to and now I can go back to classes and I'll be able to play in the final quidditch match…" Ginny's words drifted off as she saw the look on Harry's face. "What's wrong?"

Harry was thrilled to have Ginny coming back to school but she was already talking about going to class and playing quidditch, "You can't do any of that stuff yet, you're still sick! I'll bring your homework to you like Ron's been doing for Hermione and Dean will just have to fill in as chaser."

"No, he won't, the match is weeks away and I'll be fine by then," Ginny waved him off but Harry had a horrible pit growing in his stomach. All he could see was Ginny being in too much pain to focus and getting hit by a bludger or getting knocked off her broom again. He didn't want to argue about it right now though, he just wanted to get Ginny to the school infirmary as soon as possible. At least he knew Madam Pomfrey would keep an eye on her. He was saved from having to respond by the sudden appearance of Lupin in the doorway.

"Ginny, I'm glad to see you're looking so well!" Lupin smiled at her and set about helping gather the things she'd be bringing back to school. Ginny chatted back and forth with him but Lupin noticed the apprehension on Harry's face whenever he looked at Ginny. Lupin knew that look well, he knew it was on his face whenever Tonks joined in a battle and he'd certainly seen it enough on his friend James' face in regards to Lily. It was a feeling of concern, frustration, and absolute fear all mixed into one and it was a feeling that was going to plague both Harry and Ginny's thoughts whenever either one's safety was brought into question.

Lupin decided it was time to pull Harry's focus onto something else, "Alright, I think that's everything. I'll be right back with the doctor."

Harry watched Lupin leave the room and return moments later with Dr. Wilson, welcoming the distraction from his growing fear of Ginny leaving the safety of the hospital. Dr. Wilson picked Ginny up and placed her in a wheelchair similar to the one Hermione had used days ago. Harry took charge of steering the contraption while Lupin carried the small suitcase he'd packed Ginny's belongings into. When they reached the outside of the hospital, Lupin quickly checked to make sure no one was around before grabbing hold of Harry and Ginny and disapparating. The uncomfortable sensation that always accompanied this form of wizard travel was over as fast as it had started. Before he knew it, Harry was standing with Lupin and Ginny in Hogsmeade not too far from the gate leading up to Hogwarts.

"We can leave this here and I'll bring it back later," Lupin gestured to Ginny's wheelchair. Ginny was given the option of being levitated up to the school or being carried by Harry. She tried to convince them to let her walk but they firmly denied this request and Ginny allowed Harry to scoop her up into his arms. Normally, Ginny would have enjoyed this but the walk was long and the fire coursing up and down her body was making her want to get sick. By the time they reached the large double doors and entered the castle, Ginny was holding back tears. Harry had looked down at her just as she'd shut her eyes tight to prevent him from seeing but the way his arms tightened their hold on her, Ginny knew he'd seen anyway.

Lupin had once again timed their return to coincide with the rest of Hogwarts being at lunch. Harry grew more anxious the longer they walked. Ginny had stopped trying to keep her head up and was now leaning it on Harry's shoulder, her face twisted in pain and all the color gone from her face. They finally reached the infirmary where Lupin rushed ahead to open the doors. Harry nodded his thanks and quickly deposited Ginny on the bed closest to Hermione, who was watching the scene unfold with alarm.

"Harry, is she alright?" Hermione strained her body as close to Ginny's bed as she could.

"Ginny? Ginny, can you hear me?" Harry's panic was rising the longer Ginny didn't answer.

Finally, Ginny seemed to force her eyes open, "I'm okay...need a...minute." Harry heard Lupin telling him that he needed to go inform the other professors that they had returned safely, but he didn't take his eyes off of Ginny until he saw her breathing start to even out.

"Hey, Hermione," Ginny smiled weakly at her friend.

"Ginny, I'm so glad you're finally here! It's been awful just sitting here waiting for Harry and Ron to get out of class so they can come visit," Hermione smiled happily.

"Where is Ron?" Ginny looked around the room as she slowly pushed herself up so she was sitting.

"He went to go get something to eat, he should be back any minute," Hermione had just barely finished speaking when Ron shoved open one of the large double doors to the infirmary. His arms were loaded with food that he was doing his best not to drop, "Alright, I think I got enough for when Harry and Ginny get here."

Ron dropped the contents in his arms onto Hermione's bed and looked up, staring blankly at Harry and Ginny for a few seconds, "Harry! Ginny! When did you get here?"

Harry laughed, feeling the tension drain from his shoulders as he let himself relax, "We got here a few minutes ago. Mind if I take one of those sandwiches?" Harry gestured towards the large pile at Hermione's feet. Ron tossed two to him and Harry handed one to Ginny. The group munched on the food and talked about how good it felt to be back. Ginny was forcing her eyes to stay open, something that Hermione took notice of. Hermione knew that Ginny wouldn't say anything, she didn't want people thinking that she couldn't handle being back so soon.

"You two better hurry before you're late for class," Hermione spoke up.

"Aww, come on, Hermione. Ginny just got back, I can miss one class," Ron gave her an exasperated look.

"No, you can't, and neither can Harry." Seeing Harry start to open his mouth to argue, Hermione broke in before he could utter a word, "You guys can come back after classes. It's not like we'll be going anywhere," Hermione raised an eyebrow as she gestured at her and Ginny's beds.

Grumbling, Ron and Harry made their way out of the hospital wing and to Defense Against the Dark Arts. As soon as they left, Hermione and Ginny turned to face one another, "I didn't want Harry to know, but I was getting awful tired," Ginny covered a yawn with her hand.

"I know, I was too, to be honest. You can't go to sleep, though, before you tell me how talking with Harry went after I left the hospital," Hermione grinned.

Ginny turned pink but smiled back, "I told him that if he didn't want to be with me then he needed to say so."

Hermione snorted, "Very subtle. Well, I know that you're still together, but did he explain about his argument with Cho?"

"He told me almost the same thing you did." Ginny sighed, "I wish I hadn't been so stupid. If I'd only stopped and listened to him then you three wouldn't have come looking for me and you wouldn't have been hurt." Turning tear-filled eyes to Hermione, Ginny choked out, "I'm so sorry, Hermione. I never wanted you to get hurt."

"Oh, I know that Ginny. Let's just add it to the long list of things that have happened to me here: petrified by a Basilisk, attacked by the Whomping Willow, stunned and put at the bottom of the lake…" Hermione counted off on her fingers, hoping to make Ginny smile.

She got her wish when Ginny started laughing. Hoping to keep things on a happier note, Hermione shared her good news that she'd gotten only a couple of hours ago, "Madam Pomfrey told me earlier that I could start trying to walk tomorrow."

"Really! How did Ron take that?" Ginny smirked.

"Oh, you know how he is. He thought I should wait a few more days. I'm sick of sitting in this bed, though." Hermione looked at her bed with distaste.

"You think Madam Pomfrey will let me try walking tomorrow, too?" Ginny asked.

"No, she will not," The girls jumped at the sound of their school nurse's voice. She had a stern look on her face that was completely focused on Ginny.

"Please, Madam Pomfrey? Don't you remember how well I did after I fell off my broom?" Ginny smiled happily at her but Madam Pomfrey didn't budge.

"Yes, I do, but those were entirely different circumstances. Miss Granger may walk tomorrow but you will not be moving an inch from that bed until I say so."

"How about Sunday?" Ginny pushed. "I'll stay in bed and do everything you say so I'll be nice and rested."

Madam Pomfrey pursed her lips, "Very well, we can try on Sunday." Ginny beamed but the nurse pointed a finger at Ginny, "But you will do what I say. I'll not be having you throwing yourself out of bed like you did the last time." Ginny nodded her head.

Madam Pomfrey turned on her heel and went back to her office muttering about "obstinate children". Ginny and Hermione hid their laughter and spent the next couple of minutes chatting until they slowly fell asleep, the both of them still mid-sentence.