Disclaimer: I don't own 'em. I'm surprised I even thought of the idea that I did.
*** Danidancer you awesome reviewer you! This chapter is for you! HpFaNaTiCa thank you once again for your review! And I know, why can't a guy just be sweet? Mela LOL! I'm glad you've decided you like my take on Parvati! And I'm glad you're excited about this chapter! I hope you like it! Soupcann314 I will not say what happens in the next few chapters other than I think you should like this one! I hope you do…Hermiones-Twin I understand that you've got things you need to do! BUT, I am holding you to that longer review! J/K! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Vanilla Baby you're the second one who says they definitely like my Parvati! I'm so glad you all do! It's nice and refreshing for a change, in my opinion anyway! Thank you! Celeste I cannot tell you I'm happy you found Chapter 39 even if you hadn't read Chapter 38 yet! You're another awesome reviewer! Thank you! Americanangel I'm glad I could make your day a tad brighter! I hope you like this chapter and you're welcome for whatever it is I did that made you happy! LOL! And you ARE a good writer so keep on writin'! Andie I'm sorry your computer wasn't working! Don't you hate it when that happens? Oh well, you got to review which makes me happy and I'm much obliged for your sincere reviews! Thank you! Shaunna this chapter TWO people wake up! I'm excited for everyone to read this one, you know? I worked hard at it…But anyway, thanks for being an awesome reviewer! It's so great to see your name continuously pop up! Thanks girl! Marjojo thanks for saying the last chapter was enjoyable as usual! That's an awesome compliment to a writer! Thank you! HogwartsHoe I hope that you enjoy this chapter! I carefully planned it (OK, not really—I never plan anything I write…I just sit down and write) so I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for everything! Ronaldrose as I was writing the H/P scene I was thinking the exact same thing! Someone does need to talk to Harry like that! Thank you for continuously reviewing! Sugar Blossom there is some more R/Hr in this chapter! Actually, there is a little of everything in this chapter! I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for the review! Claire since you and others think the last chapter was cute, it must have been! So far no one has called it cheesy, which is nice! Thanks for the review! Fredngeorgegirl I'm glad you like the way I portray the couples in my story! And I totally agree with that whole "there's a reason Parvati and Lavender are in Gryffindor." I doubt J.K. would just "randomly" put people in the houses, you know? I'm just starting to write the chapter with "Lady in Red" in my head…I'm looking forward to you reading it! Thanks for everything! Ednyadove I'm glad you thought the last chapter was sweet! And it is so nice to see people rooting for Natalie! Yeah! Hermione Weasley it's great that H/P work in this story! I was afraid people would ban me from writing ff since I don't have Harry with Ginny! LOL! Thanks for the review! Rosethorn83 you are only on Chapter 1…or that's the only thing you've reviewed this far…but I'd like to say thank you and it is awesome to see another new name! Thank you! Luckyloo16 thanks for saying I'm good with the descriptions. I always try to be descriptive but I'm sometimes afraid I'm overly descriptive! Thank you for the review! Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed my story! And, just as a warning, things may get a little "mucky" (so to say) in this chapter so if there are any questions feel free to email me! Thank you again everyone!
Chapter 40: Nothing Short of a Miracle
Ron knew exactly where to find Hermione and so it was no shock to see Hermione bent over a book, completely lost to the rest of the student body. He enjoyed seeing her like this. This was where she was in her element. She was always most comfortable in the library. The only place she seemed more comfortable in his company; in his arms.
She was so beautiful. He thought she was the prettiest thing he'd ever laid eyes on and with each passing day she was more and more beautiful.
"Hey beautiful," he said as he pulled out the chair next to her.
Hermione barely acknowledged him as he sat down.
"Have you found anything on the potion yet?" he inquired. He knew that was what she had been down here searching for.
Finally she sighed, pushed an annoying bang out of her eyes and looked up at him. "I don't know Ron. There aren't many truly effective potions that we could concoct in a timely fashion. They're all really advanced spells. I doubt even your brothers could do them and their in seventh year."
Ron snorted. "Just because Fred and George can't do the spell doesn't mean it's all that advanced," Ron teased.
He got what he wanted as Hermione smiled timidly. "I suppose you're right," she allowed with a widening smile.
"How was Quidditch practice?" she asked thoughtfully.
Ron rolled his eyes. "It was fine. Fred almost got killed more than once. I swear Angelina enjoys threatening his life!" Ron was grinning.
Hermione returned his boisterous attitude. "I'm thinking that if I were Fred or George's girlfriend that I would try to kill them too!"
Ron laughed heartily earning himself a disapproving look from a few students and a sharp "tut tut" from Madame Pince.
Hermione giggled from behind her hand. Then she shoved the book in front of Ron. "Do you think any of these spells would work? If I were to choose any of them, I would say the Treuth would work the best. It seems competent, from what I've read, as well as rather easy to put together. Look," she said pointing toward the bottom of the pages he was looking at, "the ingredients ought to be real easy to acquire. Most of them are things we use in class: eye of bat, foot of newt, hair of spider—
At that Ron shivered. "Spiders, uh!"
Hermione smiled affectionately. "Anyway Ron, it ought to be easy. We can always take a bit more of those ingredients than we actually need. Snape would hardly know the difference, I hope," she added under her breath.
Ron leaned over and gave her a kiss. Just as he was leaning over to kiss her though Hermione turned her head and he caught the corner of her smile with his lips. "Ron! Not in the library! That's sacrilegious!" she protested with a thick laugh.
"Do you even know how to spell sacrilegious Hermione? Ron asked doubtfully.
She smiled smugly. "Of course I do. It's s-a-c-r-i-l-e-g-i-o-u-s."
"Thanks for the lesson in spelling," he teased.
Hermione punched him in the arm. "Oh shut it!" she exclaimed in a husky whisper. She stole a kiss from him then.
Ron blushed even though by now he was used to kissing her by now. He was just unused to her kissing him in such a public place. Still, he wasn't complaining and he let himself enjoy the semi-short kiss.
"You two are disgusting, have I told you that lately?" Harry's voice interrupted their lip-lock.
Harry's best friends reluctantly pulled their lips away from each other and when they both found Harry, who was holding Parvati's hand, they grinned sheepishly.
"Yes Harry?" Hermione asked as she was the first of the two to regroup.
"We were called down to the Infirmary," Parvati answered for her boyfriend.
***
Natalie sat next to the barely awake Lee. She held his hand comfortably within her own. She wanted him to know she was there and that he wasn't alone.
Lee watched her with chocolate dark eyes. His eyes followed her every moment.
She smiled down at him. She was so happy to see that he was awake. She was sure it would work, because the famous trio plus one figured it would but because she had never seen it happen for her own eyes this was nothing short of a miracle.
"What happened?" he asked in a husky voice.
"Shh…" she whispered. She placed her index finger to her lips. "Don't speak right now. Just rest," she told him.
He squeezed his eyes shut twice to tell her he understood. Then he shut his eyes and Natalie watched as he fell into a deep sleep.
"Miss Pickett would you please come here?" Madame Pomfrey beckoned from Carmen's bed.
Natalie was reluctant to do as the nurse asked but when the old witch asked again, this time more sternly, Natalie was reluctant to not do as she said. "Yes Madame Pomfrey?" she asked respectfully.
"It seems your friend has come out of her coma, Miss Pickett," Madame Pomfrey told her with a smile. Natalie's heart sped up. How had Carmen come out of her sleep? Wasn't Lee supposed to tell Carmen how she did or did not like him and then Carmen would wake up?
Natalie was so confused.
Then the fabulous four burst into the Infirmary. "Madame Pomfrey?" Harry asked because he tended to be the most respectful of the four friends unless he was speaking to Snape.
Madame Pomfrey jumped to her feet and scurried over to the people she had called down to her neck of Hogwarts school. "Yes, Harry hello. Come in, come in," she urged more politely then she ever had.
Harry looked back at Ron who shrugged. Who knew why the old bat, as Ron sometimes liked to refer to her (in the most affectionate tone, of course) all of the sudden liked them? Some things were just too weird to explain though and so they followed Madame Pomfrey to Carmen's bed.
"It seems that Miss Lowery has woken up now too," Madame Pomfrey told them.
Hermione's brows scrunched up and she looked terribly confused. "But Lee didn't tell Carmen how he felt yet, did he?" she asked. She was confused and irritated that she didn't know why Carmen was conscious.
"Did she?" Hermione asked after quite an uncomfortable silence.
Madame Pomfrey shrugged. "As far as I know, no one said anything."
Natalie coughed. "I did," she said quietly.
All eyes turned to her and she suddenly felt like she had at her Muggle elementary school when she was the lead in the school play. It was mortifying. She hated, no loathed being the center of attention. But this was really important. She had to say something.
"I told Lee that Carmen liked her. Th-that doesn't work though does it?" Natalie asked.
Hermione looked heavenward in that look that told him she was trying to figure out the most important problem in the world. Ron supposed every problem in the world was important to her.
"Then couldn't Angelina or Alicia tell Lee that Katie likes him for Katie?" Everyone stared at him curiously. "Did that make sense?"
"Yeah it made sense…I don't think that was the correct way to say it but it made sense," Harry replied thoughtfully.
Hermione was shaking her head though. "No, no it wouldn't work. You know why? It won't work because Angelina and Alicia don't like Lee like that. It only works if…if the person who likes…well, let me use the variables X and Y—
If Ron and Parvati had looked confused before there wasn't even a word for how they looked now. It was a look beyond confusion.
Hermione though was on a fast roll into explaining. "If person X is unconscious because they like person Y and another person likes person Y that person…AKA person Y has to tell—
Madame Pomfrey held her hand up in the air for silence. "I think what Miss Granger is trying to say is this worked this time because Natalie, who likes Lee, not only told Lee she likes him but that Carmen does too. Therefore, Angelina and Alicia couldn't tell Lee for Katie because they don't fancy him, correct?"
Hermione nodded. "Yes that's very correct."
Natalie rubbed the back of her neck and she looked away uncomfortably. Well, this was going to be a fun thing to explain to Carmen and Lee. She was more worried about Carmen.
***
Mitch opened Katie diary for the millionth time that night. He had heard about Lee and Carmen waking which left only Pansy Parkinson and Katie Bell in the Infirmary. Mitch chuckled despite it all. Everyone knew how Pansy felt about Draco and he was wondering how they were going to get Draco to talk to Pansy.
And then again, oh well.
He looked down at the page he had opened to. It was an entry he had already read but he reread it anyway.
…Merlin, I thought Harry might have died yesterday! I was so worried for him! And then to find that it was Cedric who died, well, that was just horrible. I knew Cedric. I had had classes with him. He really did deserve to be Head Boy. I have to wonder who they will choose now. It's definitely nothing short of a miracle that they both weren't killed!
And poor Cho! She cried and cried and cried all last night and from what I understand that's what she's been doing today too. I don't blame here though. I'd be crying also. In fact, I have been crying and I've never been particularly close to Cedric. But the school felt the pain. It wasn't just Cho or Mrs. and Mr. Diggory's pain; it was the student body's pain also.
Mitch looked up from the diary. He knew how she felt. He had known Cho and Cedric both. They were wonderful people and neither of them deserved what had happened. He forced himself to look down at the pages again. He hadn't read past that last paragraph last time…it had been too painful.
He saw tearstains printed across the paper and some of the ink had melted away as her salty tears splashed on the ink.
I looked across the field when Harry came out carrying Cedric's body and I saw Mitch Reed wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. I wanted to kiss him and hug him but at the same time I cried. It was terrible. I felt so bad. That's when I realized this affected the whole school. I mean that's when I really realized how we were all affected. And then I cried. I cried a lot.
And that's all there was to it.
Mitch broke down and cried.
I hope ya'll liked this chapter! I worked hard to get it perfect and put a little of everything in it. If anyone has questions: ASK AND YE SHALL BE ANSWERED! And it's OK if you're a little confused because I confused myself a little too…and now I understand what's going on! Thanks so much for reading! Please review!
The fighting part of the war is basically over, so now I ask that you all pray/light a candle/meditate/whatever-it-is-you-do for those who lost loved ones, no matter what side they were on. And I ask you give support to our government and I pray personally that you pray our government(s) make the right decisions in the coming days. I apologize if this request has offended you.
For memory has painted this perfect day
With colors that never fade.
- Carrie Jacobs Bond
