For the next two days, Ron was terribly sick. Ron told them (between heaves) that it was because of the huge amount of potions reacting with the squid poisons. Hence, Madame Pomfrey flatly reused to let him out of the hospital wing until all the potions were out of his system. Hermione and Harry visited him at alternating periods throughout the day, and spent most of their time after dinner with him in the hospital wing. It was a great relief to Harry on Ron's second night In the hospital wing when Madame Pomfrey announced that Ron was well enough to leave. "All right, my dear- you're free to go."

"Great!" said Harry, as Ron, beaming, hopped out of bed, still wearing his maroon paisley pyjamas.

"But," she said, holding up a finger, "I must insist that you get another day's bed rest in your dorm, Ronald. You still have a terrible, terrible cold and Pepper Up potion doesn't seem to be working." She gave Ron a scrutable look, as if annoyed at Ron's immune system. Ron was groaning, but he agreed after a little bit of bickering. Harry and Ron walked back to the dormitories together. Ron was still clad in his pyjamas but had several blankets draped around him, which earned him a few curious stares from students on the way back to the common room. When they got into the common room, he was immediately bombarded by hugs and questions from lots of Gryffindors. It was a while before Ron finally got up to bed, and even then he was followed up by the other fifth year Gryffindor boys, who stood around talking while they helped Ron be tucked into bed. Harry had had a lot of instructions from Madame Pomfrey to make sure Ron took all his potions. Ron nudged Harry in the ribs and beckoned him closer.

"Um…harry," he muttered in Harry's ear, very quietly to make sure Dean, Seamus and Neville weren't listening. "Look…if you can…would you just, er…kind of- well…just make sure Hermione doesn't come to visit me by herself, alright?"

"Huh?' said Harry blankly. "Why?"

Ron flushed and looked irritated. "She keeps on…breaking into tears. She's totally convinced it's her fault…" he shook his head. "Barking mad. Look, just…have a talk to her all right? See if you can drill some sense into her."

"Right," said Harry, grinning.

*

Ron blew his nose noisily and leant back against the pillows with a sigh. "I'm so bored," he said aloud. Crookshanks the cat, whom Hermione had left with Ron to keep him company, gave a meow. He sneezed, and blew his nose again. "Urrrrgh…." he groaned. He looked at his watch. Harry and Hermione had both come up to see him at lunch, but now they'd be at their afternoon lessons. Poor Harry, having to suffer Divination alone, thought Ron. That reminded him of the homework he'd have to catch up on, seeing as he'd been away from school for a couple of days. He let out another groan and cursed Viktor Krum. It was weird, but not even Harry really believed him that Viktor Krum had tripped him up into the lake. And he had! "Bloody great prat," Ron cursed thickly. "Why'd he trip me up anyway, eh?" he asked Crookshanks. "It can't be 'cos of that stupid squid ink, can it?" Crookshanks looked curiously at Ron with his large yellow eyes and let out another meow, then hopped of Ron's bed and started sharpening his claws on the bedpost.

At that moment, the dormitory door opened, and to Ron's great surprise, the subject of his angst walked in. "Viktor? What are you doing here?" he asked, blowing his nose once again. Viktor Krum shuffled over to Ron's bed, holding a bar of Honeyduke's best chocolate.

"I haf come to see how you are, of course," said Viktor, nothing short of humbly. He sat down next to Ron's bed on a chair. "Herm-own-ninny tells me you are very ill- you haf been out of school?"

"Yeah, s'right," Ron said, narrowing his eyes slightly at Viktor. He was feeling resentful towards Viktor at the moment, and his inability to pronounce Hermione's name properly made him even more irritable. "You know, it's actually Her-my-own-nee," he snapped.

"Vot?" said Viktor, staring distractedly at Crookshanks, who was tearing the drapes around Ron's bed to shreds.

"Her name, you pronounce it Her-my-own-nee," Ron repeated. "Not Herm-own-ninny,"

You great twit, Ron added silently.

"Oh," said Viktor, "All right." There was a long awkward silence, broken only by Ron's sniffles. "You muzt haf an awfully weak constitution," Viktor said after a while, looking at the floor.

"What makes you say that?" said Ron, not entirely sure what Viktor meant.

"Vel, to haf caught such an awful cold after only a small amount of time in the lake…" he shrugged his round shoulders. "It seems qvite odd to me."

"Maybe where you come from," said Ron irritably. Another awkward silence. Ron was just considering pretending to fall asleep so Viktor would go away, but the dormitory door opened once again and Hermione came in, looking out of breath. "Hermione!" exclaimed Ron, smiling in relief. "What are you doing here? Aren't you s'posed to be at Arithmancy?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, Professor Vector was out sick today, so I decided to come up and visit you." She looked at Viktor Krum, who was on his feet now. "Oh, hello Viktor."

"Hello, herm-own…Hermy-my-own-nee-nee?" he pronounced with difficulty. Ron rolled his eyes and Hermione smiled. She came and sat down next to Ron's bed, and Viktor, apparently having had enough of Ron, muttered something about waiting in the common room for her. Ron watched him go. "Eloquent fellow," he said sarcastically. Hermione smiled at him.

"How are you feeling today?" she asked, her eyes searching his face. "Do you think you'll be able to go back to lessons tomorrow."

"'Course I am," said Ron yawning. "I could get up and go to Divination now, if I wanted to." He grinned. "But I don't. Harry's just going to have to sit it out by himself." Hermione gave a nervous giggle. She looked at his face again, almost shyly. "You look much better," she ventured. "When you first got out of the lake, and you were all pale and shaking…I…." She broke off and shook her head "It scared me so much."

Ron gave an awkward laugh, feeling his face redden. "Oh come on, Herm…"

"I'm serious!" she said, looking at him earnestly. "And Ron…it's really…it's really made me think." Suddenly she began to blush, and she looked at the floor to hide it. Ron looked at her curiously. "What's wrong, Hermione?" he asked, reaching out his hand to touch her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

She nodded vigorously but took a little while to answer. When she did, her voice was shaking slightly. "Ron…it's just that I…I think I…." She broke of again, and looked at him painfully. "I feel so terrible about this whole thing, Ron," she started, but Ron cut her off.

"Oh, Hermione!" he said exasperatedly. "Don't be so stupid! I'm not going to tell you again so listen up- it's not your fault! If you want to blame anyone blame that Bulgarian prat you like so much!"

Hermione looked at Ron with wide eyes. "Ron, you don't seriously, seriously still believe Viktor would trip you up, do you-"

"This is getting boring," Ron said interrupting. "Hermione, I know what happened. I was there! And this is the absolute truth. Viktor Krum tripped me up so I would fall into the lake. That's all there is to it!"

Hermione looked scandalised. "But Ron, why? I still don't understand."

"I dunno! Go down to the common room and ask him yourself!" Ron said, a little angrily. Then he blinked, as if hearing what he was saying for the first time. "The common room…" he said. He looked over his shoulder at the steps at the common room, then back to Hermione. He was looking at her as though he'd never seen her before.

"What?' said Hermione, getting to her feet. "Ron, what's the matter?"

"I…I…can't believe what you did…" Ron said, still staring at her with his mouth open. "Hermione, you…you…idiot!"

"What?!" Hermione said angrily. "What are you talking about?"

"What I'm talking about!? Krum came up here, to the dormitories by, himself!"

"Yes, what about it?"

"You told him the password, didn't you? You told him how to get to the Gryffindor tower!"

At these words Hermione's mouth fell open. But she gave herself away by quickly turning extricate Crookshanks from the hangings around Ron's bed. Ron gaped at her. Suddenly it seemed like the worst thing she could possibly do!

"Hermione! You did!" he exclaimed. "How could you do that?!"

Hermione looked guilty. "I…" she said. Ron felt furious for no good reason. It seemed like the final insult. Viktor Krum pushed him in the lake. Viktor Krum was the reason he'd spent the last few days in bed, with extremely painful injuries, and now Viktor Krum knew how to get into the Gryffindor dorms! No one supposed to know that except Gryffindors! Especially not outsiders. Especially not graduates from Durmstrang Academy, and everyone knew they focused on the Dark Arts. He found himself shouting at Hermione at the top of his voice.

"You absolute idiot!" he yelled. "Of everything you've ever done, this has to be the stupidest yet!"

"Ron!" Hermione gasped. Ron could see tears swell in her eyes already, but he didn't care. Swinging his long legs over the side of the bed, he continued yelling at her. "Did you even think about what you were doing when you told him? Or does your mind simply escape you when you're around him?" he took a deep breath and stood up, a mite shakily. Hermione looked horrified.

"Ron, what do you think you're doing? Get back in bed! You're sick!"

"Me? I'm fine! It's you that needs your bloody head checked!" Ron growled. "Now I see where your loyalties lie, it's to the first boy that chases you, isn't it? Don't give a thought to Gryffindor or…or Harry."

"What's Harry got to do with this?"

"Well, what if Krum spilled the beans about the password to the Slytherins? You know how much they all hate Harry! They'd kill him in a heartbeat!"

"Oh, Ron, be serious!" Hermione snapped. She'd gotten over the shock now, and was starting to feel angry. "You're only making such a fuss because you've never liked Viktor!"

"I wonder why?" Ron yelled sarcastically. "I can't believe you'd go so low as to…to compensate the sanctity of the Gryffindor house!"

Hermione gave a mirthless laugh. "Listen to yourself Ron. You sound like a raving lunatic!"

"Do I?" Ron bellowed, taking a shaky step towards her. "I don't care any more Hermione! This is the final straw!"

"The final straw for what?" Hermione sneered. Ron glared at her, trying to steady his shaking legs.

"You've made it really clear this year where your loyalties lie," he said, in a would-be calm tone. "It's pretty obvious you don't give a stuff about your friends or Gryffindor, now, and…and…" he suddenly stopped. "Aaaaah-CHOO!" Ron let off a violent sneeze and clamped a tissue over his nose.

Hermione took advantage of his momentary interruption. "Bless you! And Ron, just stop a moment and think about what you're saying. I'm sure if Harry was here he'd be laughing his head off right now! You don't seem to understand you sound like a complete idiot!"

Ron was now shaking with anger and flu. He took another step towards her. "You think you're so bloody smart!" he yelled. "Well, I don't CARE what you think Hermione! I don't care about you any more!"

Hermione looked stunned, as though Ron had just slapped her. Ron repeated it, for effect. "I don't care about you any more! You've just proved what matters to you more! So just…just…just go away!"

He took a deep shuddering breath, and looked as though he was going to yell something else, but he suddenly let off another volley of sneezes. Hermione was still looking as though Ron had hurt her physically. Ron, his energy spent, sat down on the floor of the dorm, looking tired. He felt dizzy and ill. Hermione's voice suddenly rang terribly around the dorms.

"Ron Weasley…I…I…I hate you!