"Hermione!" Ron yelled, his voice silent above the noise of the thunder and the splashing of the rain on the lake.
He was racing towards the lake faster than he knew he could fly, almost at a vertical slant. He could see Hermione hit the water, a small distance below him, and he threw himself off the broom towards her, the cold water stinging at his skin. Murky water filled his lungs instantly, and he could barely see anything through the dark water. To his immense relief, he found himself immediately colliding with her body under the water with some force. He held her tightly, gratefully, as he struck out for the surface. She was unconscious, and her weight was pulling him down, but somehow he managed to struggle to the top, gasping for air.
The broom was waiting patiently above the water, circling around his head, and he reached for it, gripping it tightly with wet fingers slimy from lake weed. He coughed up water and tried to steady his breathing while holding onto the broom to keep him from sinking. Hermione was pale and he dared not think that she might be dead. Her hair was plastered around her face, flat and clingy, and her lips looked scarlet against the white of her skin.
"Hermione, wake up, please wake up," he said, desperately, but she didn't move. He had no idea how he would get her onto the broom like this, but his hand was already moving to his pocket and pulling his wand out. "Wingardium Leviosa!" he attempted, and obediently her body rose out of his arms, hovering above the water. He panicked in his anxiety, and she fell back down again with a splash, but he grabbed hold of her hand as she fell past him, and tugged her back up again.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" he tried again, and this time kept control as he watched her hover, willing her over, and she fell slowly this time, draped carelessly across the broomstick. He held her on carefully with one hand, and tried to pull himself up with the other. The broomstick lowered itself a little for him dutifully, and he fell clumsily into place behind Hermione. He pulled her upright, feeling her loll backwards heavily on him. He remembered her leaning on his shoulder earlier, how she'd turned round, and smiled, how they'd almost… The memories in his head seemed to run a lot more quickly than they'd done at the time.
He urged the broomstick upwards, and headed for the castle. He was shivering, his cold damp robes sticking to his skin uncomfortably, and Hermione's hair was dripping water down his neck, and heavy stinging rain falling about the two of them. Ron could barely hear the ominous thunder, so intent was he on reaching the castle safely, and when the lightening lit up the landscape, he didn't even notice.
Before he knew it, they were hovering before the castle, and they landed rather jerkily in the courtyard. His wet fingers slipped on the broom as his feet hit the ground and he found himself on a heap on the floor, landing on top of Hermione. He pulled her up, desperately, trying to see if she was hurt, but then something made him feel very dizzy, and he could vaguely hear a voice calling to him from across the courtyard, but then everything seemed to go black.
***
After that, things started to go a sort of green colour – or was it purple? - and then Ron found himself in Honeyduke's all alone, eating a very large bar of chocolate.
"I must be asleep, like Harry," Ron said aloud, through mouthfuls, but then colours merged again.
Now he was sitting next to a sleeping Harry, and he was trying to tell him everything that had happened, but no words were coming out of his mouth. The more he tried, the less it seemed to work, until his mouth wouldn't open at all.
Green or purple took over again, and then Ron found himself sitting on the broomstick with Hermione once more – a healthy, happy, smiling Hermione, leaning towards him and waiting for the kiss. Their lips barely touched when Ron was startled again, and suddenly found himself waking up.
What looked like their dormitory blurred into view around him, and to his surprise he found himself in bed. He sat up quickly. "Hermione?"
"Don't worry – she's fine." Ron noticed Ginny for the first time.
"She is? Where is she?"
"In the hospital wing. She banged her head, when you dropped her, so she needed to have stitches."
Ron winced. "Oh dear."
"You on the other hand, are fine, except you'll probably have a cold."
"I feel like I have," Ron agreed, gloomily. "Can I go and see her?"
"Well, she was just falling asleep when I left so I think you should leave it a little while. You can tell me all about your little adventure."
"Not much to tell," Ron said, picking up a box of chocolate frogs that somebody had put by his bedside, and leaning back again.
"Hermione told me a bit about it, but she was very tired and you know how she is, always says things calmly as if it's all perfectly logical. I want to know the exciting stuff!"
"What exciting stuff?"
"How you saved her life! She sort of skipped over that bit. Was it very romantic?"
"Well, it was quite," Ron said, beginning to enjoy playing the hero. "She was very heavy though."
"Did you think she was dead? Did you gather her up in your arms and whisk her back here?"
"I think so, I can't really remember."
Ginny sighed. "I hope something like that happens to me when I fall in love."
Ron looked a little alarmed. "Who said anything about love?"
"You mean, it hasn't made you realise you're hopelessly in love with her?" Ginny looked disappointed.
"No. Why should it?"
"Because everybody knows you and Hermione would fall in love eventually… it was just waiting to happen." Ginny took one of his chocolate frogs, sighing hopelessly.
"Do you know," Ron said, changing the subject. "That if you sort of wave one of these frogs over Harry's nose, he sort of almost yawns and then wriggles his nose? It's the only thing that I can do to make him move."
"He moves all the time when I talk to him," Ginny said, surprised, and then blushed as Ron raised his eyebrows.
"Perhaps you can go and play the hero and gather him up in your arms," he commented. "And then the whole adventure will make him realise just how much he's in love with you."
Ginny blushed further. "Don't be so silly."
"Don't be so silly about me and Hermione either then," Ron said, firmly. "What do you know about last night, anyway? What happened when we got here? I don't remember."
"You fainted apparently," Ginny said, grateful for the change of subject.
"Really?" Ron asked, in disgust. How girlish of him.
"And then Hagrid happened to be around, asking in the kitchens for empty jars for some kind of specimen he's hunting… and he picked you both up and took you straight to the hospital wing. Then he got Madam Pomfrey over here, and that was pretty much it. Hermione told me, and Madam Pomfrey told her. Oh, and as soon as Dumbledore found out, he told Mum to let me come here to make sure somebody was keeping an eye on Harry."
"So you're staying here, then?"
"Yes," Ginny said, proudly. "I've already read Harry three chapters of his Potions textbook, as he's missing out on the homework, and you know what Snape's like. And I've told him all about what happened to you and Hermione, and I also told him about –"
"Didn't you get bored?"
"Not really, it's quite relaxing. I'll do it all if you like, you and Hermione can concentrate on getting better. Or falling in love."
"Ginny!"
"Sorry." She paused. "Perhaps you'd better go and see her now. I'm sure she won't mind being woken up for you."
***
Hermione was sleeping so peacefully that Ron almost didn't want to wake her. She had regained her normal healthy colour, and he noticed rather guiltily the bandage around her head.
He sat down on the chair beside her bed, intending to watch her sleep, but it didn't take very long before she opened her eyes, and smiled at Ron, showing no surprise that he was there.
"Hello," she said, softly.
"Hello," he replied. "Er, I'm sorry about your head."
"Don't worry… I'm just grateful that's all that happened to me. I could've died." She spoke seriously, and bit her lip.
Ron said nothing, embarrassed. He looked down at his hands, and wondered how to fill the gap in the conversation. He wasn't sure if she remembered him almost kissing her, and he had absolutely no idea how to raise the question.
"How long will you be in here then?" He asked, resorting to the easiest question.
"Madam Pomfrey says I can go whenever I like, actually," she said, looking up at him again. "I might move back to the dormitories tonight."
Ron nodded. "I hope you do, I'll miss you over here."
He was surprised to see Hermione blush. She always seemed so cool and confident; it was strange to see her blush at such a simple compliment. He reached out to stroke her hand comfortingly, but she pulled away.
Such un-Hermione like behaviour worried him, and he stood up quickly. "I'd better go… I've got to write back to Mum, promising I'll look out for Ginny and all that."
Hermione nodded. "I'll see you later then."
"See you later."
After he'd gone, Hermione frowned at herself. Why did she have to act so awkward around him now? It was just a stupid dream. And it had been a dream, of course. Why would Ron have tried to kiss her when he'd spent the whole of last week sulking because he thought she had a crush on him? The most difficult to answer question was though, why would Hermione dream about Ron trying to kiss her?
It was just a dream, Hermione reminded herself, and resolved to forget about it very quickly. The sooner she and Ron got back to playful arguments the better. No more sulking or lying or strange dreams or sudden blushing.
***
A/N
I hope this chapter was alright, and that all the sudden drama wasn't too… sudden. I hope it all fits. Sorry for so much more suspense but I can't help it, it seems to write itself. Don't worry though… it's all going somewhere, I promise.
Hope you all like it, and please review! Thanks to Jo for beta'ing, again.
Codypup I searched through chapter six and I couldn't quite work out what you were referring to! I'm very intrigued though so do let me know… did you mean chapter six, or chapter five?
Thankyou to everyone else who reviewed!
