CHAPTER 22 All The Chances Come And Gone
Hermione was shaking uncontrollably in his arms, sobbing into his now soaked shirt as she clung to him for dear life, her happiness slowly slipping away. Ron snapped back to reality, like a drowning man surfacing in the turbulent sea catching a deep breath. Ron looked about him at the cave and all the people lying on the ground. Fear and pain filled his heart as he held Hermione tightly, clinging to her for sanity and reality. Hermione was still crying and shaking and all Ron could do was soothe her, because he knew of nothing to explain what happened. Suddenly, as if hit by lightening, Hermione's head snapped up and fear filled her tear-stained, red eyes.
"Harry!" Hermione cried pulling away from him as the revelation hit her and her hands clapped over her mouth. "Oh God Harry!"
"Harry?" Ron asked, his face paling by the news. "No!"
"Oh God Ron, please don't let him be dead!" Hermione cried tears already welling up in her red eyes. "Please God, don't let him be dead!"
Ron just stared at her, unable to do or say anything.
"Harry?" Hermione cried turning around searching the people for any sign of her best friend. "HARRY! She cried as panic filled her voice and she ran towards the nearest group of bodies, frantically searching for her best friend. Ron gaped for a moment before his senses kicked in and he ran after Hermione, not wanting to let her find Harry on her own.
"HARRY!" Hermione cried fearfully. "HARRY!"
Ron ran to her as she stopped walking and started sobbing. Ron took her in his arms and held her tightly as she clung to him, sobbing with the pain and shock she was feeling.
"Don't worry we'll find him!" Ron said soothingly, though his own heart was breaking. He didn't even dare think of the prospect of losing his best friend, because he too might break down and he needed to be strong for Hermione. She needed him.
"He has to be here somewhere!" Hermione cried into his shirt. "HARRY!"
"Hermione I don't want you to be here when I find him", Ron said soothingly as he drew circles on her back with his finger, calming her down.
"No!" Hermione said pulling away from Ron and wiping away her tears. Ron could see the defiance in her eyes and he loved her even more at that second for it. "I'm strong and I don't need to be hidden from the world in case I see something I don't like. He was my best friend too!" And with that she ran across the cave, searching for her best friend. Ron ran after her, watching as she would bend down and check another body, before rising and going on. Ron saw Hermione gasp and fall to the ground, and he knew instantly that she had found Harry. Now sprinting, Ron ran up to her and dropped down beside Harry. He was lying beside a rather large Dark Wizard he must have been fighting and he looked in bad shape.
"Harry, Harry, can you hear me?" Hermione cried brushing away some of his unruly black hair out of his eyes. She lowered his head onto her lap as she brushed more of his hair out of his eyes.
"His pulse is weak and he looks pale", Hermione said to Ron without looking up. "He won't make it unless he's brought to hospital soon. Go and check the rest, I thought I saw some people stirring". Ron nodded and got up, walking to the nearest group of bodies lying on the floor. Ron pushed down deep the urge to throw up as he checked a Dark Wizard for his pulse, pulling his hands away quickly when he realised the pulse was gone. He moved to the next, a pretty young woman lying sprawled on the ground, her wand still in her hand and a deep gash across her cheek. Her pulse was steady and Ron sighed a breath of release, glad that she was alive. Ron pointed his wand at her chest and muttered the spell under his breath that would wake her.
The pretty girl's eyes snapped open and she looked about her fearfully, the whites of her eyes showing the fear that she felt.
"Its alright", Ron said smiling at her. "You're safe, just relax and tell me your name".
"Its Kaylee, Kaylee Gryfinstock", Kaylee muttered rising up off the ground and looking about her. "What on earth happened here?" she asked as fear filled her voice once more.
"I don't know, the book was a bomb or at least that's what Hermione told me and it went off, but you seem to be fine and I need to check who else is alive", Ron said rising off the ground. "Can you manage?"
Kaylee nodded her head and stood up, holding onto Ron's shoulder for support as her legs were still weak. "I'll help you search for survivors!"
"Alright", Ron said checking the last person of the small group that Kaylee had been in. He realised this man was also a Dark Wizard and also dead. He rose up off the ground and started making his way to the next crowd with Kaylee . "So what do you remember?" Ron asked grimly.
"Just that I was fighting those two Dark Wizards and then the book started counting down. There was a bright light and that's all that I remember", Kaylee said as she crouched down and checked one of her fellow Auror's pulse. She sighed as she rose off the ground, smiling. "She's alive", Kaylee said happily, then she took out her wand, pointed it at the witch's chest and cried, "Enervate!"
The woman opened her eyes and slowly rose of the ground, looking around confused. "Kaylee what happened?" she asked and as Kaylee began explaining everything to the woman, Ron made his way to the next group of people. There were more dead bodies than stunned people, but so far it was only the Dark Wizards that were dead, the Aurors were only stunned and some were mildly wounded. He awoke quite a few other Aurors and with each new person he found to be alive, the nausea he had felt while seeing the first dead Dark Wizard was slowly abating. As more and more people were found still alive, Ron made his way back to Hermione, who was still kneeling on the ground, holding onto the unconscious form of Harry. She was trying to flatten his unruly hair, speaking to him softly when Ron walked up to her.
"How long will it take until back-up Aurors and Healers start arriving?" Ron asked dropping down beside her, as he held onto Hermione's free hand.
"I don't know", Hermione said slowly raising her head and looking up at him. Even in the pale light that the bonfire was giving out, Ron could see she looked very pale and shaken up, the fear that they had both felt earlier still had not left her completely and Ron could tell by the way she clung to Harry that she was still not pacified that Harry would be alright. In fact Ron wasn't quite sure if Harry would survive either, he looked in a really bad shape. He was deathly pale, half his face was covered in blood and he seemed to have quite a few deep gashes across his chest and stomach. What was also very disconcerting was that he was not like the other Aurors that had been unconscious before Ron had awoken them. In fact, Harry seemed to be in what Ron could only imagine to be some sort of a coma, for his breathing wasn't regular and he was still.
"The Healers should arrive any minute now, I sent a distress signal out and they would have realised something was wrong anyway, that blast from the book would have alerted every available Auror in a ten mile vicinity", Hermione said quietly, looking up at Ron, her eyes pleading for some comfort from him, that Ron wasn't quite sure how to give her at that moment. She wanted Harry to be fine and stable and awake yet Ron could not give her that. He could not even give her peace of mind for he was even more at a loss about this whole thing than she was. Instead he settled for sitting despondently on the ground next to Hermione, stroking her hand as they waited for help, that help that would determine if their best friend would live or die.
Ron sat there in the same position not moving his head or any of his other limbs, as he sat in quiet shock beside Hermione, still holding her hand. Hermione had become quiet too, and they waited patiently, and with every passing moment both grew even more afraid. They didn't know how long they had been waiting, sitting so quietly while all around them more and more Aurors were being awoken, and more and more Aurors rushed about and shouted orders all the while not even noticing Ron and Hermione on the ground. Hermione was clinging to her best friend, his life rapidly fading from this earth, while Ron sat beside her, holding her hand as he battled his inner demons within, the fear having taken over his ability to move and be aware of the outside world.
Then suddenly a different noise, awoke both out of their reverie as they looked up. From the entrance to the cave, a sea of purple and green came pouring into the cave, the back-up Aurors having finally arrived for assistance and the much needed Healers coming along with them. Hermione looked up both shocked and hopeful as she looked at Ron, who also was looking up at the approaching Healers and Aurors as they filtered into the crowd, spreading out to those that needed assistance.
"I'll go get a Healer for Harry", Ron said getting up, still holding her hand. Hermione nodded up at him, her eyes fearful, and without even thinking about it, he lent down and kissed her gently on the lips, smiling slightly at her. "It'll be ok". He squeezed her hand one last time and went off in search of a Healer. It seemed like Ron had only been gone a second, before he returned again with a female Healer and two men running towards them with a stretcher and a bag of medical supplies. The female Healer bent down beside Hermione and started checking out Harry, examining his eyes and feeling his pulse.
"How long as he been like this?" she asked as she looked up at Hermione.
"I don't know, I suppose about ten minutes or so. As soon as that blast had gone away we, that is Ron and I", Hermione said looking up at him, "went in search for Harry and we found him here, lifeless and his pulse was really weak. He's been getting worse by the minute", Hermione said miserably.
"This blast you say, how did it affect everyone?", the Healer asked.
"I don't quite know", Hermione said wracking her brains. "I think it knocked out all the Aurors, but the Blood Kindred, the dark wizards, it killed them, I think or at least that's what it looks like. I'm not quite sure, but the oddest thing is it didn't affect us at all and we were right next to the book".
"Alright, and you would be Hermione Granger then", the Healer said and Hermione nodded her head. "Well I don't quite know what's wrong with Mr Potter but we'll take him to St Mungo's and have one of our best Healers take care of him. Is there anything else you could tell us you noticed about Mr Potter and what happened?"
"Well whatever made him this bad, wasn't the blast. It seems all the Aurors are alright and the only injuries they have are curse related and have nothing to do with the blast that went off, so I would say that Harry got in the bad way of a curse. But what's quite peculiar and I'm rather worried about is his stomach, he seems to have a rather deep gash across it and that can't be helping his situation", Hermione mused.
The Healer frowned at this information and lifted Harry's shirt to examine his stomach, which was now covered in blood along with his shirt which seemed to be stained by all the blood.
"You're very observant Miss Granger", the Healer said looking up at her and then calling the other Healers over. "Yes you're right that gash across his stomach made him loose a lot of blood, but it seemed to have been caused by a weapon like a sword or dagger and not a wand. We had better take him to St Mungo's and get him checked out". She began to rise as two Healers came up and took Harry off Hermione's hands and lifted him to the stretcher that was floating at their waist level.
"Wait", Hermione cried getting to her feet as the two Healers began magically floating the stretcher with Harry on it towards the exit. "Can I come too?"
"I'm afraid not Miss Granger, we won't be allowing anyone to come with us that isn't Mr Potter's family", the female Healer said sympathetically as she smiled at Hermione.
"But he has no family and I just want to know he's okay", Hermione said sadly.
"You can come visit him tomorrow morning when the Healers have finished with him", the female Healer said and started making her way to the exit of the cave, the other two Healers in front of her guiding the stretcher towards the exit.
"Oh Ron what am I going to do?" Hermione said miserably, turning to him as Ron wrapped his arms around her, comforting her as she clung to him. "If he dies, I don't know what I'll do!" Hermione cried as she sobbed into Ron's arms, her body beginning to shake from the sobs. "Its alright Hermione", Ron said soothingly rubbing her back and calming her down. "they're some of the best Healers the ones in St Mungo's. Remember they fixed up my dad when he was in a really bad shape. Remember they saved him from that snake bite that could have killed him back in our fifth year".
"Yeah", Hermione said her voice muffled by Ron's sweater. "But I'm just so scared that I'm going to lose him", Hermione said raising her head and looking up at Ron.
"you won't lose him, Harry's strong he's survived more than we could ever imagine. He's strong and he'll fight it, whatever had got him", Ron said firmly smiling down at her and kissing her gently on the lips. He didn't know what to say to Hermione, she was so afraid and shocked, he hated seeing her like this. Instead he wrapped his arms tighter around her, hoping that if he couldn't tell her the words she needed to hear, he could at least let her know she wasn't along right now.
Ron broke off the kiss, smiling down at her as he said, "Harry will be fine". Hermione smiled and nodded at him.
"Hem hem Ron?" a girl said which oddly enough reminded Hermione so much of that horrible woman Umbridge back from their fifth year, that she spun her head around so fast cricking her head, fearing that nasty woman was standing right there. Instead she saw Krista with a rather pissed-off look on her face. Hermione, completely shocked quite disentangled her arms from Ron and stepped back looking at her feet. Ron, who had also looked up alarmed at that little fake cough, paled as he saw his girlfriend standing in front of him, her hands on her hips with a very disgruntled look on her face.
"Ron can I have a word with you?" Krista said crisply, not looking at all at Hermione as she walked over to a spot a bit away from Hermione where there were less people around. Ron quickly followed, not looking at Hermione as he rushed off after his girlfriend. Hermione looked up watching Ron talk to his girlfriend and from Krista's face which was becoming angrier by the minute, she had a vague idea of what they were talking about.
"I wish I had some Extendable Ears right now", she muttered to herself, straining her hearing to find out what they were talking about. But from Krista's raised voice she didn't need them right then as what she was shouting could be heard by almost everyone in the cave.
"HOW COULD YOU! AS SOON AS SOME DISASTER HAPPENS YOU RUN TO HER! ALWAYS TO HER, WELL WHATEVER HAPPENED TO YOUR GIRLFRIEND?" Krista shouted at him, and Ron looked positively taken aback, looking at his girlfriend with a new fearful look on his face. Hermione looked down at the mention of her, wishing more than anything to be at home and not here, listening to what Krista was shouting at Ron because of her. She should never have kissed Ron, never! And now she was paying the price for it. Hermione looked up at Krista and Ron and saw that Krista was walking away from Ron, but Ron ran after her, calling out to her.
"No wait Krista! Its not like that! Its not like you think it is, yes she kissed me but that's all and I swear that to you, Krista please listen to me!" Ron cried, stopping her and turning her around, but Hermione didn't want to hear anymore, she had heard enough. With tears welling up in her eyes, she quickly ran to the exit, not caring about what people thought or saw. All she wanted to do was go home and cry over what a stupid fool she had been. Ron didn't want her, right then at that moment he was down in the cave making excuses for what had happened between him and Hermione, making her realise he wanted only her, and not Hermione. Never Hermione! By this time Hermione was running up the steps, her sight blurred by the tears flowing down her cheeks as she ran up, crying her heart out. When she reached the locker rooms, Hermione pulled out her wand and with a crack of her wand she was gone.
Hermione was shaking uncontrollably in his arms, sobbing into his now soaked shirt as she clung to him for dear life, her happiness slowly slipping away. Ron snapped back to reality, like a drowning man surfacing in the turbulent sea catching a deep breath. Ron looked about him at the cave and all the people lying on the ground. Fear and pain filled his heart as he held Hermione tightly, clinging to her for sanity and reality. Hermione was still crying and shaking and all Ron could do was soothe her, because he knew of nothing to explain what happened. Suddenly, as if hit by lightening, Hermione's head snapped up and fear filled her tear-stained, red eyes.
"Harry!" Hermione cried pulling away from him as the revelation hit her and her hands clapped over her mouth. "Oh God Harry!"
"Harry?" Ron asked, his face paling by the news. "No!"
"Oh God Ron, please don't let him be dead!" Hermione cried tears already welling up in her red eyes. "Please God, don't let him be dead!"
Ron just stared at her, unable to do or say anything.
"Harry?" Hermione cried turning around searching the people for any sign of her best friend. "HARRY! She cried as panic filled her voice and she ran towards the nearest group of bodies, frantically searching for her best friend. Ron gaped for a moment before his senses kicked in and he ran after Hermione, not wanting to let her find Harry on her own.
"HARRY!" Hermione cried fearfully. "HARRY!"
Ron ran to her as she stopped walking and started sobbing. Ron took her in his arms and held her tightly as she clung to him, sobbing with the pain and shock she was feeling.
"Don't worry we'll find him!" Ron said soothingly, though his own heart was breaking. He didn't even dare think of the prospect of losing his best friend, because he too might break down and he needed to be strong for Hermione. She needed him.
"He has to be here somewhere!" Hermione cried into his shirt. "HARRY!"
"Hermione I don't want you to be here when I find him", Ron said soothingly as he drew circles on her back with his finger, calming her down.
"No!" Hermione said pulling away from Ron and wiping away her tears. Ron could see the defiance in her eyes and he loved her even more at that second for it. "I'm strong and I don't need to be hidden from the world in case I see something I don't like. He was my best friend too!" And with that she ran across the cave, searching for her best friend. Ron ran after her, watching as she would bend down and check another body, before rising and going on. Ron saw Hermione gasp and fall to the ground, and he knew instantly that she had found Harry. Now sprinting, Ron ran up to her and dropped down beside Harry. He was lying beside a rather large Dark Wizard he must have been fighting and he looked in bad shape.
"Harry, Harry, can you hear me?" Hermione cried brushing away some of his unruly black hair out of his eyes. She lowered his head onto her lap as she brushed more of his hair out of his eyes.
"His pulse is weak and he looks pale", Hermione said to Ron without looking up. "He won't make it unless he's brought to hospital soon. Go and check the rest, I thought I saw some people stirring". Ron nodded and got up, walking to the nearest group of bodies lying on the floor. Ron pushed down deep the urge to throw up as he checked a Dark Wizard for his pulse, pulling his hands away quickly when he realised the pulse was gone. He moved to the next, a pretty young woman lying sprawled on the ground, her wand still in her hand and a deep gash across her cheek. Her pulse was steady and Ron sighed a breath of release, glad that she was alive. Ron pointed his wand at her chest and muttered the spell under his breath that would wake her.
The pretty girl's eyes snapped open and she looked about her fearfully, the whites of her eyes showing the fear that she felt.
"Its alright", Ron said smiling at her. "You're safe, just relax and tell me your name".
"Its Kaylee, Kaylee Gryfinstock", Kaylee muttered rising up off the ground and looking about her. "What on earth happened here?" she asked as fear filled her voice once more.
"I don't know, the book was a bomb or at least that's what Hermione told me and it went off, but you seem to be fine and I need to check who else is alive", Ron said rising off the ground. "Can you manage?"
Kaylee nodded her head and stood up, holding onto Ron's shoulder for support as her legs were still weak. "I'll help you search for survivors!"
"Alright", Ron said checking the last person of the small group that Kaylee had been in. He realised this man was also a Dark Wizard and also dead. He rose up off the ground and started making his way to the next crowd with Kaylee . "So what do you remember?" Ron asked grimly.
"Just that I was fighting those two Dark Wizards and then the book started counting down. There was a bright light and that's all that I remember", Kaylee said as she crouched down and checked one of her fellow Auror's pulse. She sighed as she rose off the ground, smiling. "She's alive", Kaylee said happily, then she took out her wand, pointed it at the witch's chest and cried, "Enervate!"
The woman opened her eyes and slowly rose of the ground, looking around confused. "Kaylee what happened?" she asked and as Kaylee began explaining everything to the woman, Ron made his way to the next group of people. There were more dead bodies than stunned people, but so far it was only the Dark Wizards that were dead, the Aurors were only stunned and some were mildly wounded. He awoke quite a few other Aurors and with each new person he found to be alive, the nausea he had felt while seeing the first dead Dark Wizard was slowly abating. As more and more people were found still alive, Ron made his way back to Hermione, who was still kneeling on the ground, holding onto the unconscious form of Harry. She was trying to flatten his unruly hair, speaking to him softly when Ron walked up to her.
"How long will it take until back-up Aurors and Healers start arriving?" Ron asked dropping down beside her, as he held onto Hermione's free hand.
"I don't know", Hermione said slowly raising her head and looking up at him. Even in the pale light that the bonfire was giving out, Ron could see she looked very pale and shaken up, the fear that they had both felt earlier still had not left her completely and Ron could tell by the way she clung to Harry that she was still not pacified that Harry would be alright. In fact Ron wasn't quite sure if Harry would survive either, he looked in a really bad shape. He was deathly pale, half his face was covered in blood and he seemed to have quite a few deep gashes across his chest and stomach. What was also very disconcerting was that he was not like the other Aurors that had been unconscious before Ron had awoken them. In fact, Harry seemed to be in what Ron could only imagine to be some sort of a coma, for his breathing wasn't regular and he was still.
"The Healers should arrive any minute now, I sent a distress signal out and they would have realised something was wrong anyway, that blast from the book would have alerted every available Auror in a ten mile vicinity", Hermione said quietly, looking up at Ron, her eyes pleading for some comfort from him, that Ron wasn't quite sure how to give her at that moment. She wanted Harry to be fine and stable and awake yet Ron could not give her that. He could not even give her peace of mind for he was even more at a loss about this whole thing than she was. Instead he settled for sitting despondently on the ground next to Hermione, stroking her hand as they waited for help, that help that would determine if their best friend would live or die.
Ron sat there in the same position not moving his head or any of his other limbs, as he sat in quiet shock beside Hermione, still holding her hand. Hermione had become quiet too, and they waited patiently, and with every passing moment both grew even more afraid. They didn't know how long they had been waiting, sitting so quietly while all around them more and more Aurors were being awoken, and more and more Aurors rushed about and shouted orders all the while not even noticing Ron and Hermione on the ground. Hermione was clinging to her best friend, his life rapidly fading from this earth, while Ron sat beside her, holding her hand as he battled his inner demons within, the fear having taken over his ability to move and be aware of the outside world.
Then suddenly a different noise, awoke both out of their reverie as they looked up. From the entrance to the cave, a sea of purple and green came pouring into the cave, the back-up Aurors having finally arrived for assistance and the much needed Healers coming along with them. Hermione looked up both shocked and hopeful as she looked at Ron, who also was looking up at the approaching Healers and Aurors as they filtered into the crowd, spreading out to those that needed assistance.
"I'll go get a Healer for Harry", Ron said getting up, still holding her hand. Hermione nodded up at him, her eyes fearful, and without even thinking about it, he lent down and kissed her gently on the lips, smiling slightly at her. "It'll be ok". He squeezed her hand one last time and went off in search of a Healer. It seemed like Ron had only been gone a second, before he returned again with a female Healer and two men running towards them with a stretcher and a bag of medical supplies. The female Healer bent down beside Hermione and started checking out Harry, examining his eyes and feeling his pulse.
"How long as he been like this?" she asked as she looked up at Hermione.
"I don't know, I suppose about ten minutes or so. As soon as that blast had gone away we, that is Ron and I", Hermione said looking up at him, "went in search for Harry and we found him here, lifeless and his pulse was really weak. He's been getting worse by the minute", Hermione said miserably.
"This blast you say, how did it affect everyone?", the Healer asked.
"I don't quite know", Hermione said wracking her brains. "I think it knocked out all the Aurors, but the Blood Kindred, the dark wizards, it killed them, I think or at least that's what it looks like. I'm not quite sure, but the oddest thing is it didn't affect us at all and we were right next to the book".
"Alright, and you would be Hermione Granger then", the Healer said and Hermione nodded her head. "Well I don't quite know what's wrong with Mr Potter but we'll take him to St Mungo's and have one of our best Healers take care of him. Is there anything else you could tell us you noticed about Mr Potter and what happened?"
"Well whatever made him this bad, wasn't the blast. It seems all the Aurors are alright and the only injuries they have are curse related and have nothing to do with the blast that went off, so I would say that Harry got in the bad way of a curse. But what's quite peculiar and I'm rather worried about is his stomach, he seems to have a rather deep gash across it and that can't be helping his situation", Hermione mused.
The Healer frowned at this information and lifted Harry's shirt to examine his stomach, which was now covered in blood along with his shirt which seemed to be stained by all the blood.
"You're very observant Miss Granger", the Healer said looking up at her and then calling the other Healers over. "Yes you're right that gash across his stomach made him loose a lot of blood, but it seemed to have been caused by a weapon like a sword or dagger and not a wand. We had better take him to St Mungo's and get him checked out". She began to rise as two Healers came up and took Harry off Hermione's hands and lifted him to the stretcher that was floating at their waist level.
"Wait", Hermione cried getting to her feet as the two Healers began magically floating the stretcher with Harry on it towards the exit. "Can I come too?"
"I'm afraid not Miss Granger, we won't be allowing anyone to come with us that isn't Mr Potter's family", the female Healer said sympathetically as she smiled at Hermione.
"But he has no family and I just want to know he's okay", Hermione said sadly.
"You can come visit him tomorrow morning when the Healers have finished with him", the female Healer said and started making her way to the exit of the cave, the other two Healers in front of her guiding the stretcher towards the exit.
"Oh Ron what am I going to do?" Hermione said miserably, turning to him as Ron wrapped his arms around her, comforting her as she clung to him. "If he dies, I don't know what I'll do!" Hermione cried as she sobbed into Ron's arms, her body beginning to shake from the sobs. "Its alright Hermione", Ron said soothingly rubbing her back and calming her down. "they're some of the best Healers the ones in St Mungo's. Remember they fixed up my dad when he was in a really bad shape. Remember they saved him from that snake bite that could have killed him back in our fifth year".
"Yeah", Hermione said her voice muffled by Ron's sweater. "But I'm just so scared that I'm going to lose him", Hermione said raising her head and looking up at Ron.
"you won't lose him, Harry's strong he's survived more than we could ever imagine. He's strong and he'll fight it, whatever had got him", Ron said firmly smiling down at her and kissing her gently on the lips. He didn't know what to say to Hermione, she was so afraid and shocked, he hated seeing her like this. Instead he wrapped his arms tighter around her, hoping that if he couldn't tell her the words she needed to hear, he could at least let her know she wasn't along right now.
Ron broke off the kiss, smiling down at her as he said, "Harry will be fine". Hermione smiled and nodded at him.
"Hem hem Ron?" a girl said which oddly enough reminded Hermione so much of that horrible woman Umbridge back from their fifth year, that she spun her head around so fast cricking her head, fearing that nasty woman was standing right there. Instead she saw Krista with a rather pissed-off look on her face. Hermione, completely shocked quite disentangled her arms from Ron and stepped back looking at her feet. Ron, who had also looked up alarmed at that little fake cough, paled as he saw his girlfriend standing in front of him, her hands on her hips with a very disgruntled look on her face.
"Ron can I have a word with you?" Krista said crisply, not looking at all at Hermione as she walked over to a spot a bit away from Hermione where there were less people around. Ron quickly followed, not looking at Hermione as he rushed off after his girlfriend. Hermione looked up watching Ron talk to his girlfriend and from Krista's face which was becoming angrier by the minute, she had a vague idea of what they were talking about.
"I wish I had some Extendable Ears right now", she muttered to herself, straining her hearing to find out what they were talking about. But from Krista's raised voice she didn't need them right then as what she was shouting could be heard by almost everyone in the cave.
"HOW COULD YOU! AS SOON AS SOME DISASTER HAPPENS YOU RUN TO HER! ALWAYS TO HER, WELL WHATEVER HAPPENED TO YOUR GIRLFRIEND?" Krista shouted at him, and Ron looked positively taken aback, looking at his girlfriend with a new fearful look on his face. Hermione looked down at the mention of her, wishing more than anything to be at home and not here, listening to what Krista was shouting at Ron because of her. She should never have kissed Ron, never! And now she was paying the price for it. Hermione looked up at Krista and Ron and saw that Krista was walking away from Ron, but Ron ran after her, calling out to her.
"No wait Krista! Its not like that! Its not like you think it is, yes she kissed me but that's all and I swear that to you, Krista please listen to me!" Ron cried, stopping her and turning her around, but Hermione didn't want to hear anymore, she had heard enough. With tears welling up in her eyes, she quickly ran to the exit, not caring about what people thought or saw. All she wanted to do was go home and cry over what a stupid fool she had been. Ron didn't want her, right then at that moment he was down in the cave making excuses for what had happened between him and Hermione, making her realise he wanted only her, and not Hermione. Never Hermione! By this time Hermione was running up the steps, her sight blurred by the tears flowing down her cheeks as she ran up, crying her heart out. When she reached the locker rooms, Hermione pulled out her wand and with a crack of her wand she was gone.
