Author's Note: Hey Everyone. Sorry for the long wait. This weekend was really busy for me. But GUESS WHAT! I tried out for Alice in Wonderland at my school, and guess who I got?!? ALICE! I am SO excited. But I do share the part with another girl. She's in 7th grade but we're real good friends. It's going to be awesome! I can't wait!

                        One of you asked me why Ron's watch worked at Hogwarts when all Muggle electronics went haywire there.  Well, you may want to ask J.K. Rowling that because I remember Harry watching Ron's watch because his own stopped working when he went into the Lake. (Year 4) But that is a good question. J      

Also, I am thinking of having an aside little fanfic, telling you what happened between Ginny and Harry while she was visiting him alone that one time. What do you think?

                        Thanks for so many reviews!

Summary: It is now a week later, and Harry finally wakes up.  He must remain in the hospital wing until he can learn to breath on his own again.  Ginny, Ron, and Hermione are with him by his side all the time.   Also, we learn how Harry saw his situation and what really happened with the Death Eater.

Secrets Kept

Chapter 8

(Hermione's POV)
by happythoughts

            For the next two days, things went slowly for Hermione.  The classes seemed to go on forever, and her late nights talking with Ginny and Ron, plus visiting Harry everyday, added to the long list of things she was doing.  She was found on Wednesday evening with her head on her Transfiguration book, fast asleep. 

            She suddenly felt a slight tap on her shoulder.  She merely shrugged it away, not wanting to awake from her peaceful slumber.  But pretty soon the tap turned into a nudge, and then a shaking.  She finally woke up angrily and looked around her to find who had been rudely trying to awake her.  Her eyes focused and the material in front of her materialized into Ron and Ginny. 

            "Finally, you're up," Ron said to her. 

            "How long have I been asleep?" she asked them drowsily.

            "About two and a half hours," said Ginny, smiling slightly.

            Hermione groaned.  Two and a half hours wasted.  She could have been finishing up her homework, reading a bit, and then gone down to see Harry.  She rubbed her eyes wearily, and then began to flip through her books, trying to find the place where she had left off reading. 

            To her dismay, Ron flipped the book shut.  "Just what do you think you're doing?" she asked him, as he plopped down next to her. 

            "You need a break. Do you realize you've already finished your homework? I'm guessing you were reading ahead, because I see everything that we needed to do right here," he said, pointing to a stack of papers next to him. 

            "Have I already finished?" she asked in wonder.

            Ginny nodded, sitting in front of her. "We were going to ask you if you wanted some dinner.  Then we could go and visit Harry again."

            Hermione looked at her watch.  It was approximately dinnertime, about 6:05 P.M. Her stomach growled noisily.  She grinned in embarrassment, clutched her stomach, and said, "Yeah, I'd say I'm a little hungry. Let me just clean up here a bit and then we can go."

            Ginny and Ron waited for her as she hurriedly stuffed papers and books and quills into her bag.  After she was finished, they headed towards the Great Hall, chatting only a little. 

            They ate dinner in silence, only wanting to see Harry again.  For the past few days, they had all visited him right after dinner. Hermione had been trying to write notes for him in every class also, and she had written down all the assignments he had missed.  Professor McGonagall had asked her to come to her desk after class one day to talk about the whole thing.

            "I assume you have been trying to keep Harry updated with his schoolwork?" she asked Hermione, peering over her spectacles.

            Hermione nodded vigorously. "Oh yes, Professor.  I wouldn't want to be him right now, missing everything that we'll need to do for O.W.L.S. and everything."

            "Yes, I understand. I asked the Headmaster about this, and I trust you that you will use it well," she said, pulling out a drawer from her desk.  Hermione then saw her place a type of quill that she recognized onto her desk.  "Do you know what this is?" she asked her.

            Hermione nodded. "It's a quill that most reporters use so that they don't have to write themselves."

            "Correct. I've seen you trying to copy notes for both you and Harry. So I asked Dumbledore if you could use one of these.  He immediately agreed. So you can simply use this to write all the notes for Harry, instead of you writing them for him," she said to her.

            "Oh thank you, Professor! I promise I'll use it well," said Hermione. 

            "Yes, yes. Well, go on then, don't want you to be late for potions, now do I?" she said smirking. 

            The quill had certainly been helping Hermione.  She would make sure that when Harry awoke, he would catch up on all his work. 

            "Ready?" asked Ron. 

            The two girls nodded and they all started walking towards the hospital wing.  They entered without knocking, for Madame Pomfrey knew that this was the usual time that they always came to see Harry.  They all took their usual seats around his bed and Hermione put the new sheets of notes onto the growing pile on his bed stand. 

            "Don't know why you do that," said Ron, shaking his head, "he's never going to catch up on all of that."

            "I'll make sure he does," said Hermione snottily. 

            Ginny had resorted to taking Harry's hand and rubbing his arm gently.  Just by looking at her eyes, Hermione could tell that she was somehow talking to Harry silently.  They remained in silence for awhile, simply staring at Harry.  The bandage had been taken off his head, and his skull was fortunately repaired.  His arms had of course been healed, and his ribs were healing, but slowly. 

            Unless it was Hermione's imagination, she could have sworn she saw Harry's eyes flutter. 

            "Did you see that?" asked Ron excitedly.  Obviously it wasn't only her imagination. 

            "Yes! His eyes fluttered!" Hermione said excitedly. 

            Ginny was now squeezing Harry's hand.  "Harry! Are you awake? Can you hear me?"

            His eyes fluttered once more.  And after a few more seconds of Ginny's urging and Ron and Hermione hugging hopefully, they finally fully opened. 

            Hermione shrieked with joy and Ron whooped with admiration.  "Harry! You're awake!" exclaimed Ron.  Hermione and Ron realized that they were hugging, and quickly pulled away from each other. 

            "Oh Harry!" said Ginny.  She was kissing his forehead happily.  "You're awake!"

            But to everyone's confusion, Harry was trying to pull away from Ginny.  "What are you doing? Who are you? Where am I?" he said, his words slightly slurred.

            "Harry, what are you talking about? It's me, Gin," said Ginny in confusion.  She looked to Ron and Hermione for help.

            "Gin? What, like the card game?" asked Harry.

            Ron sniggered. He stopped when Hermione nudged him in the ribs and gave him a warning look.  "Harry, it's Hermione. Do you know where you are? Do you know who you are?"

            Harry looked at her with a weird look. "Who are you? No, I don't know where I am. Or why I am here."

            "Ron, go get Madame Pomfrey," said Hermione quickly. 

~*~*~

(Ron's POV)

                Ron and Harry were staring at each other, about two feet away from each other.  But Ron was looking at Harry with a look of disbelief sketched across his face, and Harry was looking at him curiously.  What is he talking about? Why didn't he remember Ginny? Has he gone mad?

            "Ron! Madame Pomfrey, please!" urged Hermione again.

            "Oh, right. Sorry," said Ron.  He broke his gaze with Harry and walked briskly toward her office door.  He raptly knocked.  The door flew open suddenly and she was standing there with an anxious face.  "What is it?"

            "Er … it's Harry. He's awake," answered Ron.  He saw her eyes widen in surprise.

            "Is he really? This is most a miracle!" she exclaimed, walking towards Harry's bed with Ron closely behind her.  She pushed Ginny and Hermione aside and to take a look herself. "Why, you're right! He is awake!"

            Ron watched as she began to take Harry's pulse and check his temperature.  He saw Harry staring at her intently. "I suppose you're the nurse here," he said.

            Everyone, including Madame Pomfrey, gaped at him. "What ever are you talking about, Mr. Potter? You're been here plenty of time to know that I am the nurse here! Now stop being foolish and allow me to check your fractured ribs!" She then returned to her work on him, muttering angrily to herself.

            "The only time I remember being here is now," said Harry smartly.

            This time Madame Pomfrey stopped her work completely and looked at him in disbelief.  "You most certainly were here more than once, Mr. Potter!"

            "Oh but Madame Pomfrey, do you think when he landed on his head, he may have had some brain damage? Perhaps that is why he doesn't remember anything," said Hermione. 

            Ron remembered his dad telling him something about that happening whenever you bumped your head.  What had he called it?

            "Amnesia, perhaps?" asked Madame Pomfrey to no one in particular.

            That was it.

            "Yes … maybe so … maybe so … Potter, do you know what her name is?" she asked him.

            "Gin.  I know that because she told me," said Harry happily, smiling at Ginny.  But Ron saw that Ginny didn't smile back.  She was looking at him worriedly.

            "Then do you know her?" she asked, turning to Hermione.

            Ron saw Hermione's face fall when Harry shook his head.  Madame Pomfrey then turned to him.  "What about him?"

            He saw Harry squint at him and could tell that he was trying to remember.  "Er … Ralph?" he asked hopefully.

            Ron shrugged. "Close enough," he muttered.

            Madame Pomfrey tucked in disapproval. "I was afraid that this would happen.  But it should go away in a few days, maybe even hours.  He'll get over it quickly, don't worry."

            "Are we allowed to stay with him for awhile?" asked Ginny hopefully.

            Madame Pomfrey looked skeptical, but she nodded her head and said, "Only for awhile though.  He needs some serious rest if he wants an immediate recovery."

            The three of them resumed their seats around Harry cautiously.  "So why am I here?" asked Harry, starting off the conversation abruptly.  They all looked at each other nervously until Hermione spoke up.

            "Harry, you were playing a game called Quidditch.  And somehow, you fell off your broom at hit your head," she said.  Ron noticed that she left out the part about being knocked off by a Death Eater.

            "How long have I been here? And what's quidditch?" He added.

            Ron decided to answer that for him. "It's a game played on broomsticks.  You're the seeker. You get to catch the snitch.  And you've been here for about two weeks."

            "Two weeks? I must have missed a lot of school," said Harry with a groan.

            "Well, actually I've been writing notes for you ever since you've been out," said Hermione somewhat excitedly.  She showed him all the papers she had written. 

            "Oh gee, thanks," said Harry.  He then turned to Ron.  "So, Ralph, tell me about this quidditch thing."

            It took Ron awhile until he realized that Harry was talking to him.  "Me? Oh. Well, it's really easy. But it will take awhile to explain.  Maybe later."

            Harry nodded and then turned to Ginny.  Ron noticed how his eyes softened when he looked at her.  "You're awfully quiet," he said to her.

            Ginny just nodded, but Ron could see that she was on the verge of tears.  "Excuse me, I have to go," she said quickly, jumping out of her chair and knocking it to the floor.  She ran out of the room and shut the door behind her. 

            "I'll go talk to her," said Hermione.  "See you up at the common room, Ron?" she asked him, stressing his name. 

            Ron smirked. "Yeah."

            She left to go comfort Ginny, leaving Ron and Harry alone. "Why did she run out like that?" asked Harry in wonder.

            "I dunno. Maybe she was scared or something," said Ron.

            "Scared? Why would she be scared?" asked Harry.

            "Because there's a chance that you may never regain recovery or remember anything anymore," said Ron.

            "Really? What is there to remember? I go to school here, I play quidditch, and I have you guys as friends," said Harry.

            "Yeah well … there's more than that to having friends.  You have to know them.  And maybe you're more than friends with others," said Ron.  He was trying to hint to Harry about him and Ginny being together.

            "How can you be more than friends?" asked Harry.

            Ron sighed. "It's pretty complicated Harry.  Let's just say that you may like a friend in a different way than you like another friend, right? But in a good way," he added.

            Harry took the time to think. "Oh … I see. Like you and that girl with the bushy brown hair?" he asked.

            "What?! Hermione?! No … no that's not right. That's not right at all," said Ron in dismay.

            "Are you sure about that?" asked Harry slyly.

            "Listen, Harry. You're a little giddy right now. Save some for your recovery, alright mate? I have to go," said Ron embarrassedly. He stood up. "Get some sleep.  You need it."

            And with that, Ron walked out of the room.  When he closed the door behind him, he breathed a sigh of relief.  Was he really that obvious about his feelings for Hermione? Even someone with amnesia could see it? That was pretty bad. 

~*~*~