Part 2
A/N: Okay, this one had pretty much no action. It's mainly flashbacks, romance, and explaining. But read it!!! Thanks!!
Disclaimer: don' own nuttin
"I knew she'd pass out, Dumbledore, I told you she should of had bed rest, my goodness," Madame Pomfrey almost yelled as she pushed her way towards Hermione. Ron and Harry both watched with amazed expressions as Pomfrey used a quick charm to drop Hermione into the bed next to Ron's. Harry was on the other side.
"Honestly, wouldn't sleep for a minute, had to stay here..." she kept muttering as she began to check Hermione over.
"Didn't sleep?" Ron asked suspiciously.
"Or eat," said a small voice from the back of the room. The crowd parted to reveal Ginny, who had returned once she had talked to Hermione.
"Everytime I brought her food, she'd just barely take a few bites then put it down, sometimes she wouldn't touch it at all," she continued.
The whole crowd thought that Madame Pomfrey would pass out her face turned so red, "out, Out, OUT!!!!" she screamed, "I want every single one of you out this minute, including you Dumbledore!!"
No one had ever heard Pomfrey's voice that high, so the whole crowd backed out of the room, completely petrified. Ron and Harry exchanged warning glances, and then both looked over at Hermione as Pomfrey pulled a curtain around her. For several minutes they could hear the sound of charms coming from Pomfrey's voice, and neither dared to speak, for fear of being cursed by her.
Almost a full half hour later, the curtain was pulled back to reveal Hermione attached to an IV, pumping nutrition back into her system. Ron flinched when he saw that, remembering Hermione telling him her big fear of needles.
"I don't even like sewing, just the thought that it might prick me.."were her exact words that ran through his mind. He closed his eyes and leaned back. He was upset with her, but more afraid for her. He and Harry had both risked their lives for her, and she had almost killed herself in sorrow?
"Damnit," he muttered allowed.
"I know, I can't beleive she almost killed herself over us," Harry replied, picking up on Ron's thoughts immediately. He then shook his head, rolling over onto his side. The fight had warn both of them out, and even though they were recovering quickly, both still needed rest.
****
"Harry!" Ron could remember Hermione's smiling face as if it had been yesterday. They were returning to Hogwarts for their fourth year, and Ron had met up with Harry, his cousin, and his uncle. Dudley was far worse than Ron could have imagined. Dudley had just finished saying how some beautiful thing was running towards them, when they heard Hermione's yelp. And with the look on Dudley's face, it was apparent she was the one he had been talking about.
Dudley's face turned even redder when Hermione jumped into Harry's arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around her neck. He had grown a fair amount over the summer, and could catch her.
"Hey, forgetting someone?" Ron had said in an innocent voice, and Hermione turned to look at him.
"Of course not Weasley,"she said with a sickeningly sweet voice. As the three burst out laughing, she hugged Ron, with her legs still wrapped around Harry. Then she had let go, letting Ron spin her in a circle.
"Missed ya," he said with a grin.
"Awwww," she said, and then turned to Dudley. "Hello," she said with such contempt that even Harry flinched. She let go of Ron, and for the first time, he really got a look at her. She had grown up. He supposed she had been last year as well, but this was the first time he really noticed.
"We, we were just leaving," Dudley muttered, frightened by the beauty in front of him.
"Of course," she replied in the same voice. She stood there, hands on hips, until the Dursley's vanished from sight. Then, she whipped around, a smile on her face.
"This is going to be a great year."
****
And it had been. Ron had loved every minute of it, every second he, Harry, and Hermione had spend together. Always fighting with Malfoy, and his evil goons. To Ron's surprise and awe, Hermione had also buffened up that summer, and had knocked Malfoy out cold without her wand.
****
"Aw, look, it's the little Mudblood," Malfoy had cooed into Hermione's ear right behind her. She whipped around, her eyes staring daggers into the short little man in front of her.
"Go to hell Malfoy," she sneered, then pushed him into a corridor, out of sight of the other students and teachers. She followed, shutting the door behind her.
"I'm sick of you messing with me, let's get this over with," she said, throwing off her bulky cover robe.
"Right," Malfoy purred, but a sickening punch hit him square in the jaw before he could mutter anything else. He had gotten back up, ready to come around for another punch, when Hermione's foot landed strait in the stomach, sending him backwards into a wall, where he laid there unconscious. Hermione muttered some quick words that would heal his wounds, but leave the pain. He deserved some reminder.
****
Ron remembered how her face had glowed when she told him and Harry the story. It was one of her favorites. He lazily turned over to look at her, her soft brown hair, her skin that showed only a hint of a tan. She was beautiful, Ron wouldn't deny that.
****
"Don't you dare laugh at me," Hermione had called before she had descended down the stairs. A new club had opened up in Hogsmeade, and the three of them planned on going.
"We won't," both boys promised together with a grin. A grin that only got larger when they saw her. This was one of the few times they saw her in muggle clothes, which she did prefer over her wizarding outfits, even though she didn't get many chances to express that.
Hermione's brown hair had been smoothed out, and danced carelessly around her face. She sported no makeup, save some lipstick and mascara, which had been forced onto her by Lavender. She wore a man's blue collared shirt over a black spagetti strap, with jeans, not too tight to look trashy, but just enough to show off her legs.
Ron had felt like he was dead and seeing an angel. She looked beutiful. Well, she always looked beutiful, but he had never seen her like this.
"Wow," Harry stuttered out, "you look amazing."
"Angel," Ron muttered, offering her his hand. She blushed for only a moment before taking it.
****
Hermione still looked that beutiful. Ron kept his gaze on her face as he whispered a few words, and her bed magically moved strait towards his. Knowing she was out cold swallowed the fear he had inside himself, he wouldn't dare attempt this if she was awake. Softly, he began to brush her check.
****
"This must be what, his fifteenth girl now?" Ron asked Hermione in amusment. They were both watching Harry, who had been asked to dance by every girl in the school, somewhat of a line had even formed.
"Feeling left out?" Hermione asked with a grin, "Come on, I love this song," she exclaimed as a muggle tune came on, "dance?"
"How could I say no to a whinny little brat like you?" Ron asked mockingly.
"Shut up," she replied with a killer smile as she pulled him onto the dance floor. She wrapped placed her hands around his neck, after showing him where his hands went.
"You're so innocent sometimes," she muttered as the words began.
"It felt like spring time on this, February morning,
in a courtyard, birds were singing your name,
I'm still recalling things you said to make me feel alright,
and carried them with me, today
and now as I lay me down to sleep,
yes I pray, that you will hold me dear.
though I'm faraway I'll whisper your name
into the sky, and I will wake up happy."
"Hey, Hermi?" Ron asked quietly in her ear. During the first part of the song, the distance between them had slowly begun to shrunk.
"Yea?" she whispered back.
"Why didn't you go home at Christmas?"
"Why would I want too?"
"You've got everything, you've got both parents, a ton of money,..."
"Money isn't everything Ron," she said pulling back from him to look into his ice blue eyes, "sure my family's got plenty, but how could you imagine what they're like? They're whole attitude about me is, 'We've got you something new, now go play with it like a good little girl, and don't bother us, we've got more important things to do than love you like parents should,'" at this tears began to form in her eyes, "Ron, I look at your family, and I'm jealous. You're parents, your brothers, Ginny, they all love you. No, one's ever loved me. I never had any friends before Hogwarts, not any real friends. Just the kids who wanted the right answers on their tests," she finished before starting to cry. Ron just pulled her head onto his shoulder and held her.
"I wonder why,
I feel so high, though I am not above the sorrow,
every heartache, till you call my name,
and it sounds like churchbells,
on the whistle of a train, on a summer's,
evening, harbored to meet you barefoot,
barely breathing, and as I lay me down to sleep,
yes I pray that you will hold me dear.
Thought I'm faraway I'll whisper you name into the sky,
and I will wake up happy,
it's not to near for me, that the flower I need to rain
with my tears to me every season has it's change,
and I will see you when the sun comes down again.
As I lay me down, to sleep, yes I pray, that you will hold me dear.
Thought I'm far away, I'll whisper your name into the sky, and I will wake up happy."
"Thank you Ron," Hermione whispered as she pulled away.
****
Now Ron played the song over and over in his mind. That had been the first time she had cried to him since they were in the third year.
Though I'm far away, I'll whisper your name into the sky,
and I will wake up happy.
Ron remembered the song as he ran his hand over her lips. To his surprise he felt them move, muttering a name, then resting with a soft smile. As he returned her bed to it's original position and moved to sleep, he prayed it was his.
****
Harry watched his two best friends sleeping, while he went over the events that had happened over a week ago, and only one question continued in his mind. Why Hermione? What had Voldemort wanted with her? And how had he known that Voldemort did want her?
****
"You don't need to fight me boy, it is not your time," Voldemort had driven that thought into Harry's mind, "I just want the girl."
"Hermione?" Harry whispered.
"Yes,...."
****
But that was after he had sent Hermione off with Ron. How had he known then?
Suddenly, it hit him. He hadn't known. But his love for Hermione had run so deep, and for Ron as well, that he wanted them to get out of there, not to see the battle which he had presumed to be for his life.
****
"Don't you want to take me?" Harry had uttered still standing.
"No, it is not your time!" Voldemort had thundered before throwing the green light at Harry. His last thoughts dwelled on his friends.
****
Ron's movements startled Harry out of his thoughts.
"What?" he had said in his usual rough manor.
"Just thinking about Voldemort."
"Could you say, You-Know-Who?"
"Could you possibly get over it?"
"Could you two possibly be any louder?"
"Hermione!" the two best friends yelled together, whipping around, only to find her back asleep.
"Close enough," Ron muttered with a grin, "close enough for Mrs. Diana Chandler anyway."
****
Harry hated staying with the Dursleys, and this summer had been the worst yet. His text books read through three times each, Harry couldn't wait to start his fifth year at Hogwarts. With a sigh, he threw himself down on this bed, opening up Potions for Young Wizards and Witches for a fourth time. He began on page one once again, when he heard his uncle from down stairs.
"Harry Potter, I want you down here this instant!"
Harry rolled his eyes, and slid off of his bed, and sullenly slinked down to the kitchen, the source of the voice.
"Sit," Vernon had ordered, and Harry quickly obliged, "I'm having a dinner tomorrow night, a very important client," he stressed to the rest of the family and Harry, "big company, this could be my big break. Now the owners, the Chandler's, won't be joining us, but they're sending their daughter Diana, and her boyfriend Alex, over here. They're both seventeen, and this is supposedly some kind of training for them," at this Vernon snorted, as if a deal with him could be classified as training. He obviously wasn't pleased the Chandler's were meeting him in person, "Now, we'll have the standard drill, won't we?" he asked threateningly to Harry.
"Yes, sir," Harry replied with a board sigh. Another night alone. How predictable.
Harry was hovering at the top of the stairs when he heard the door bell ring the next night. He quickly darted into the shadows and let his gaze flow down the stairs to the door. When it opened, what it revealed shocked Harry.
It was Hermione and Ron. With Hermione's hair a perfect blond, and Ron's hair streaked with brown, they looked amazingly different, truly like they were seventeen, and the Dursley's would never recognize them, only meeting Harry's two best friends once before.
And just like before, Dudley thought Hermione was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
"May I take your coat Miss Chandler?" Dudley cooed in a sickeningly sweet voice. Hermione apparently thought so, because she carelessly tossed her coat over his head, much to Harry and Ron's surprise, even though Ron was quick to cover it up.
"Care to join us in the dining room?" Harry heard his aunt call from downstairs.
"Of course."
"You have a nephew here, don't you?" 'Diana' asked with a pleasant smile after they had all sat down, "My father does a background check on all of his customers," she quickly explained when the Dursley's all got a confused expression on their face, "he'll be joining us, I hope?"
"Of course," Vernon replied, "Dudley, go get your Harry."
"Yes, sir," Dudley muttered.
Hermione had been very professional all during the dinner, smiling, and basically roping the Dursleys around her pinkie finger. Even when Vernon began to question her on drills, she responded quickly and easily, she had evidently been doing some extra reading.
"We've got a few papers my father needs you too look at, Alex, will you be a doll, and go get those? Harry would you mind helping him, there are quite a lot," Hermione said directly after desert.
"Of course darling," Ron replied with a sweet smile, then motioned for Harry to follow him. The two stumped out the front door, where Harry saw the knight train waiting for them, "Perfect," he heard Ron mutter, "now, for Hermione."
"I'm just seeing what's keeping them," they heard her call as a door slammed. The noise was followed by a slam of the knight train's doors, and Hermione appeared.
"Ugh," she said, looking over at the two boys, "I'm going to go take a shower, get this gunk out of my hair."
****
When Harry had turned around he had seen George and Fred, the two who had snuck in to get Harry's things during dinner. Remembering, Harry shook his head. Hermione and Ron were two of the best friends anyone could have.
But he had been one of the best too them as well. There was everytime he had stood up to Draco for Ron, and Hermione, how many times had she cried into his arms? Too many times too count.
****
Harry crept down the stairs, almost too scared to make a noise. Something had kept him awake, and he had decided to go for a walk through the building, but knew he'd get detention if caught. Nightmares or no nightmares, Potter or no Potter, students didn't wander around at night.
Descending the stairs in the invisibility cloak, Harry could hear a small noise coming from the corner of the room. Turning his head, he noticed it was Hermione, curled up in a chair, sobbing silently into a huge book on Weeds. Harry immediately recognized it as the extra assignment she was working on for Herbology.
"Hermi, what's wrong?" Harry whispered as he moved closer, taking off the cloak. Hermione never said anything, just shoved a paper towards him. Gingerly picking it up, Harry began to read.
Dear Hermione:
Hermione, your father and I regret to inform you that we'll be gone on a cruise this summer. It will last for two months, traveling from Florida to Brazil, and we have made arrangements for you too take care of your Grandfather Granger in the hospital. You'll have a room in the Hilton across the road. Ring if something happens.
Mum and Dad
"I thought I would actually be able to see them this summer," she whispered, "but they don't love me. They don't even care."
"They're just leaving you to take care of your grandfather?" Harry asked in amazement. He was sure his parents would have never...
"No, the hospital just sent me word this morning that he died," she sobbed, "my parents should be finding out at breakfast tomorrow."
"Oh, Hermi," he whispered, then sat down on the chair with her. He pulled her into his lap, removing the book, and the roll of parchment, which he'd help her finish later.
"He was the only one who ever cared about me," she muttered into his chest, referring to her grandfather.
"I'm sorry," Harry repeated over and over into her ear, stroking her hair. He slowly rocked her back and forth, waiting for her to fall into a deep sleep, such as she always did when she cried. After a few moments, her whimpers were silent, and her breathing deep. Pulling the cloak over them both, he crept up to the girls dormitory, lying Hermione down to sleep, then returned to his own bed.
****
The boys only had to stay in the medicine room two days after they woke up, both recovered quickly. Harry spend the rest of the day in books, seeing as classes had been canceled to restore Hogwarts. While the rest of the school rebuild the ruins, Harry and Ron poured over books to find out why Voldemort had been after Hermione. Madame Pomfrey had declared them too weak too work.
It was only after fifteen different books that Harry began to put together the pieces.
Hermione felt horrible. She could barely lift her arms, and she struggled to make a sound to alert Madame Pomfrey that she was awake. Struggling, she managed to whimper.
"Hermione!" Pomfrey exclaimed, and rushed over to the girls bedside, "Oh, thank goodness. I'm sure you're completely drained of energy. Of course you are, you've been out cold for three days strait."
"Ron?" Hermione managed to uttered.
"Ron? Oh, yes, he's fine, and Harry too," Pomfrey reassured her, "the two of them have been in the library for quite some time now."
"Can they come see me?"
"Of course not!"
It took several days of soup and bread for Hermione to have any strength at all. She was very glad when she was put back onto fruits, even vegetables, with Madame Pomfrey telling her she could handle them. But not chocolate.
Hermione had been awake for almost a week when Madame Pomfrey had first let anyone in to see her. But it had all been worth it when she saw Ron's smiling face, and the trunk he was dragging behind him.
"I brought you some things," he said blushing a brilliant red that perfectly matched his hair.
Ron sat down on Hermione's bed, and opened up the trunk. Hermione had been glad when Pomfrey had left, leaving the two alone in the room. Her attention was brought back when Ron set a CD player on the chair across from them.
"Lavender lent it to me," he quickly explained, then, muttering too himself, pushed the play button. Softly at first, but then growing to a beautiful hum, Hermione recognized the song as the one she and Ron had danced to in Hogsmeade.
"Our song?" she asked with a smile.
"Yea," he said blushing again, and reaching back into the trunk. He pulled out a dish, with a metal cover over it. He set it down on Hermione's food table that was swung in front of her, and pulled the top off. Hermione began to laugh when she saw the steak and baked potato underneath.
"Ron!" she exclaimed, remembering her favorite foods. She almost completely lost it when he began to pour sweet tea for her.
"Ron, this is the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me," she whispered.
"Oh, well, it was nothing."
Hermione smiled, and picked up the knife to cut the steak, but found she was still to weak to cut a full steak. Blushing furiously, she handed the knife and fork over to Ron, who took it, and cut up her meal. She took a bite, and chewed it slowly while watching Ron. As she swallowed, he looked up into her eyes, and Hermione could feel the tears coming to her eyes. She barely noticed when Ron pushed the table out of the way, and leaned closer, until his lips finally touched hers. Only kissing her for a moment, Ron pulled back. To Hermione's surprise, neither she or him were blushing.
"I better go," he whispered, then kissed her once again. He stood up, and pulled the trunk behind him, leaving the food and CD playing.
"Thanks Hermione," he whispered before he took off.
"till you call my name,
and it sounds like churchbells,
on the whistle of a train, on a summer's,
evening,"
Hermione was still smiling when Harry came in. He raised his eyebrows, then looked over his shoulders at where Ron had just left.
"I'm guessing I wasn't missed," he said jokingly.
"Not at all," Hermione said with a grin, as she pulled the steak back around, and took another bite.
"Hermi, I need to talk to you about something. Can I see your thumb?" Harry said as he sat down in the same spot Ron had just left.
"Um, sure," she answered holding out her thumb. Harry inspected it for a moment, then sighed.
"That's what I thought," he said letting go, "I know why Voldemort was after you."
"Why?" she whispered, pulling the sheets up around her a little more.
"You're a direct heir of Gryffindor. Before Godric Gryffindor died, he locked all of his treasures, which was quite a lot, and many powerful light sided spells into a tomb in Egypt. It could only be opened by his thumbprint, which he enchanted to be passed down through generations. Even your mum had it."
"Then why didn't he go after her?" Hermione interrupted.
"He did," Harry replied sullenly, "Hermi, your parents are dead. Voldemort meant to keep your mum's thumb, but it was destroyed with the rest of her, his plan back fired. This happened about a week ago. I'm sorry."
What surprised Harry the most, was that Hermione didn't cry. She didn't even look bothered. She just nodded her head, and looked at him as if she expected him to continue.
"He'll come back for you. I'll protect you, and I know Ron will. Of course you'll have the safety of the school, of Dumbledore, but..." he let his words hang in the air for a moment, "It'll be hard. Classes have been canceled for the rest of the year, but students are being forced to remain on campus. It's safest here, together, with Dumbledore. Basically, there's just going to be Defense against the Dark Arts from all the teachers."
"Of course," Hermione answered, nodding her head.
"Harry Potter, I want you out of here now!" Madame Pomfrey ordered, bustling back into the room, "That girl has enough on her mind, but don't worry, she'll be well enough in a few days to rejoin your little trio. Now out!"
"Don't worry, Hermi, Ron and I will take care of you," Harry said reassuringly as he was whisked out of the door.
"Thank you Harry," Hermione whispered after him.
"I'm still recalling things you said to make me feel all right,
and carried them with me, today."