Disclaimer: Your Eyes (the pretty song) belongs to the great, wonderful, spectacular Jonathan Larson and RENT, and if I wrote it, it definitely wouldn't be as good as it is.
Author's Note: I would have made some miraculous cure, but life doesn't always end happily, and neither does this story. If that's what you want, however, I have an alternate ending which leads up to some of my other stories. Check it out on my website!
Author's Note for Rentheads: Can you believe I thought of the AIDS part after I had already decided to use this song? And it was totally random, too!
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"I'm Sick"
"I'm sick, Ron," Hermione said softly to him as they sat alone by the lake watching the sun set.
"Whoa," said Ron, backing away suddenly. "Stay away from me!"
Hermione sighed. "No, Ron, not that kind of sick. I mean I'm really sick."
"What?" said Ron, who looked as though he had just been whacked in the face with stone cauldron. "What's wrong with you?"
"I have AIDS. It's a Muggle disease. My mom had it and she passed it down to me. We thought it was gone because they treated it when I was a baby. But it's back."
"Is it fatal?" Ron asked, dreading the answer. Hermione nodded wordlessly.
"How long do you have left?" he asked, hoping - praying - that the answer would be forever.
"One month." The two sat in silence together, listening to the lake ripple and bubble. "I found out last week, but I didn't know how to tell you."
"One month," Ron repeated, still shocked. "That's practically nothing."
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Your Eyes
As we said our good-byes
Can't get them out of my mind
And I find I can't hide
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They sat in silence until the sun went down, and then they stayed until it was too dark for Ron to see Hermione still wiping tears out of her eyes. Finally, Hermione announced that she was cold, so they went inside to the common room and sat by the fire. It was a while before either of them could fall asleep that night.
Ron and Harry made the following week one of the best the trio had ever spent together. Hermione no longer needed to worry about exams and homework, so they spent all afternoon talking about their adventures, flying into Hogsmeade on school broomsticks, and recalling all the best moments they had shared.
Hermione soon stopped going to classes all together, as she no longer had any use or interest in the subjects. Harry and Ron, however, were forced to go to class. And so they hurried back to the common room after Transfiguration the next week.
Hermione wasn't there.
"Maybe she went somewhere else," Ron suggested. They looked around all of Hermione's favorite places: the library, the Great Hall, even outside on the grounds. But Hermione was no where to be found.
Finally, after exhausting their searching places, Harry and Ron went to Professor McGonagall's office - hoping for the best, but fearing the worst.
Professor McGonagall opened the door and let the boys in.
"Professor," Ron said, "do you know where Hermione is?"
Professor McGonagall looked at the two of them, her eyes growing red and puffy. "Miss Granger has gone home," she choked out.
Harry and Ron looked at each other, then ran off, back to Gryffindor tower. They didn't have to talk to each other to know where they were going. They both got on their broomsticks and started to fly.
Ron had been to Hermione's house many times before, so Harry followed him there. They landed in the front yard, abandoned their brooms on the lawn, and rushed to the front door.
Mrs. Granger came to the door a few minutes after Ron had rang the doorbell. As soon as she saw them, she let them in. Ron didn't need to ask where Hermione's room was, and he didn't wait for Mrs. Granger to let him upstairs.
He took the stairs two at a time, Harry close behind, and threw open the door to Hermione's room.
"Ron!" she gasped. He ran over to the bed and hugged her tightly. "I'm so glad you're here."
"Where else would I be?" Ron asked.
"You should be in school."
"School isn't important to me right now," Ron said. "The teachers will understand if I don't have my homework done."
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From your eyes
The ones that took me by surprise
The night you came into my life
Where there's moonlight
I see your eyes
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Harry went back alone that night. He had no idea how long Ron had stayed, but Harry had done all his homework and had gone to bed without any sign of Ron.
That week, Ron was completely unable to focus in class. He was constantly neglecting his homework and skipped classes to go see Hermione, who was getting worse and worse every day.
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How'd I let you slip away
When I'm longing so to hold you
Now I'd die for one more day
'Cause there's something I should have told you
There's something I should have told you
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Harry sat sleepily stuffing sausages into his mouth. He was used to eating breakfast by himself - at least without Ron and Hermione. Harry and Ron had been caught flying back to the castle one night by none other than Harry's "favorite" teacher, Professor Snape. But during this rough situation Harry and Ron were attempting to deal with, even Snape was somewhat sympathetic. He let them go with just a warning. However, Dumbledore had heard of the midnight flight and called Harry to his office.
"Harry," he had said, "I know you are seventeen years old, but we both know it is unsafe for you to fly around at night, especially since we don't know where Voldemort is currently hiding."
Even Sirius had some advice, "Please promise me you won't go flying off to visit Hermione alone at night again."
And he had promised.
Harry hadn't even seen Ron for three whole days. And although he did have other friends: Neville, Dean, and Seamus, he wished that Hermione would get better and Ron would come back soon.
And it was on this particular day that Harry happened to notice the tiny owl that flew in the Great Hall window with a scrap of paper dangling to its leg.
Pig flopped down on the table, exhausted from flying so far so fast. It reminded Harry of the way Errol collapsed after delivering a letter.
Harry took the scrap from the owl and opened it.
Harry, come quick
Was all it said. It wasn't signed, but Harry had gotten enough owls from Ron in the past six years to recognize the handwriting.
Harry didn't need to be told twice. He scooped up Pig in his hand, grabbed his bag and went into the corridor outside the Great Hall. He waited for all the teachers to be out of sight, then he took out his wand and whispered, "Accio, Firebolt."
The broom swooped down the marble staircase and to Harry's side; he was getting good at the Summoning Charm. He knew it was against Sirius and Dumbledore's orders, but he mounted the broom and was about to take off when….
"What are you doing, Potter?" came the cold, drawling voice that he knew was Malfoy.
"I don't have time for you, Malfoy," Harry growled, and before Malfoy could say anything more, he shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!" and zoomed off while a petrified Malfoy crashed to the floor.
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When I looked into your eyes
Why does distance make us wise?
You were the song all along
And before the song dies
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Harry rushed into the Grangers' house, broom in hand, where Ron was waiting for him at the window. He had never seen Ron so distraught, so worried, well except maybe when Ginny had been kidnapped and taken into the Chamber of Secrets.
There was no "hi," no "how was your trip," no greeting at all, just, "She's dying, Harry." Harry put down his bag and broom and they climbed the stairs to Hermione's room.
She was much worse off than the last time Harry had seen her. Even though she was at home and not in a hospital, she had all sorts of tubes stuck in her and beeping machines surrounding her bed. She herself was pale; her chest heaved in order to take even the smallest breath. She didn't move as they entered, but her eyes flicked up and met Harry's for a split second.
"Harry," she whispered in a raspy voice, "you shouldn't be here." Ron must have explained why Harry had to stay in school.
"Hermione, always bossing us around," he joked. Hermione gave him a tired smile. In a more serious tone, he added, "I had to come and see you. I don't care what Dumbledore and Sirius say."
Ron went to her and sat on the edge of her bed, light brushing her bushy hair off her pallid cheeks. "I've got something important to tell you, Harry," Ron said. Harry looked at him quizzically. Ron had asked him to come. His owl had sounded so urgent. "We just found out yesterday," Ron continued. "I've got it, too."
Harry let the words sink into his brain. "Then you…?"
"Me," Ron confirmed. "I could die, too."
"No," Harry gasped, but it was hardly audible.
Hermione moaned. She lacked the strength to say anything more.
"Hermione, just hold on," Ron said. "You're so strong; you can fight it."
"Ron…" she whispered. "I love you."
"Oh, God, Hermione," Ron pleaded. "Don't do this! You can't leave me, you can't! I love you; don't go!"
Hermione closed her eyes for a while, but she opened them again, staring into Ron's eyes.
"I've loved you practically since the day I met you. You mean everything to me. And I may not show it, but please don't die. I need you." Ron and Hermione seemed to have forgotten Harry was there, but it was just as well. He didn't want them to see the tears leaking out of his emerald eyes.
Ron, too, was bleary-eyed. Hermione didn't make a sound, but streams leaked silently downs her ghostly face.
Then Ron leaned down and kissed her. Harry had a strange urge to look away. It seemed awkward even though he knew Ron and Hermione had been going out for more than a year now. They must have been kissing then, and maybe even more than that. Was it only a few weeks ago Ron was telling Harry about his secret savings for Hermione's engagement ring?
Ron leaned away. "Goodbye," Hermione whispered. Ron didn't hold back now; the tears were coming strong out of all three of them. The trio would be broken now, down to two. And someday - though Harry prayed not soon - down to a lonely one.
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I should tell you I should tell you
I have always loved you
You can see it in my eyes
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Ron shook as he stood up from the bed. He turned and faced the corner while he wipes his eyes on his sweater. Harry, too, took this opportunity to wipe his eyes on the sleeve of his robes.
"Come on," Ron said. "Let's go break the news to everyone else."
And together, the two of them went downstairs, but a piece of each of them would always be missing.
Hermione.