CHAPTER 23 Comatose And The Eventual Turnaround
Hermione shook as she Apparated at the front of her building, her hands were trembling as she dug them into her pockets and pulled out her keys. She opened up the outer door to her apartment building, rushing up the stairs as fast as her feet could take her, the sobs now over-powering her body. She fumbled with her keys, desperately trying to get the door open, the sobs wracking her body and making her small frame tremble under the force of them. Her hands were shaky and slippery and when she dropped her keys, Hermione let a rather loud rush of sobs over-power her as she slumped to the ground, crying into her hands. It was like three years before, just after Ron had left her and she never thought she could survive that, and here she was again and Ron was putting her through that exact same misery again. It had been three years and Hermione thought she had properly gotten past Ron and all that was connected with him, but sitting there against her door, crying like there was nothing to live for, made Hermione realise how little progress she had really made. She was still the same blundering girl of three years ago, still pinning after the same idiotic man that broke her heart all those years ago, the same man that infuriated her and made her feel alive like no-one else could. She really hadn't changed at all.
"No!" Hermione cried at this last thought, furiously hitting the wall with her fist as the anger and frustration took over, but all that she accomplished from hitting the wall was a bruised hand and a now increasing throbbing pain.
"Pull yourself together Hermione!" she said furiously to herself as she rose off the ground and angrily wiped the tears away from her eyes. She was strong and she didn't Ron to make her happy. She picked the keys up off the ground and opened her flat door, hanging the keys on their usual rack beside the door. She pulled off her cloak and hung it on a peg next to the keys, flicking on the light switch as she walked further into the apartment, as she made her way into the living room and slouched down on her sofa. She leaned forwards on the sofa, burying her face in her hands as she sat there for a minute trying to think. Her thoughts were so jammed full with Ron that she had barely thought of her best friend, probably lying in some hospitable bed, dead for all she knew and here she was crying over the latest thing Ron had done wrong. She rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands, feeling thoroughly ashamed of her lack of concern towards her best friend, letting the sobs return as she shook there, sitting on her sofa worrying about her best friend. All that she could tell from Harry's state before the Medi-Witch took Harry away was that he must be in some form of coma for he was not reacting to any re-awakening charms she had put on him. Hermione looked across her living room, letting the tears flow down her cheeks as she looked up at the photo of her, Harry and Ron on their last day of school hanging on the wall opposite her, above the mantelpiece. She had had the photo enlarged and framed, where it was now hanging in a beautifully carved wooden frame next to her slip of parchment announcing the amount of NEWTs she had gotten. She was so proud of her thirteen NEWTs that she had the parchment framed and hung it next to the other most important thing to her, her friends. Ron had made such fun of her, when she first framed the parchment and hung it above the mantelpiece, but after she had ignored him for half a day, he relented and apologised profusely.
Thinking of Ron again, made her heart ache and she gazed up at the photo of herself and Ron and Harry, smiling as the much younger Ron blushed at her and then smiled. Looking at Ron back when he was eighteen made Hermione smile as she remembered all her happy days when they had first started dating. All those romantic cafes he used to take her to, and those quiet picnics in the Astronomy Tower at night he used to drag her to, telling her as Prefects they had to use their powers for themselves once in a while. It used to make Hermione frown and launch into another of her speeches about how power should not be abused, but Ron would always kiss her and therefore end that conversation. Afterwards Hermione would be too concerned with kissing Ron more to worry about lecturing Ron. After-all he had heard that speech a thousand times before. Hermione smiled at those thoughts, but when she realised what she was going, she grew angry with herself, rubbing her eyes once more to try and banish all those happy thoughts of Ron. She got up off her seat, making her way to the kitchen for a nice cup of tea. She filled her kettle with water and set it to the boil, waiting impatiently for the water to boil. She had just made up her mind to walk back into the living room and get her wand from the coffee table to magically heat the water quicker, when she changed her mind and walked out of the kitchen grabbing her wand and cloak along the way as she headed out of her apartment, locking her door and Apparating away.
Within seconds she had re-appeared on the deserted alleyway where Hermione briskly walked to the main road and onto the sideway, looking at all the shops that were lining each side of the main street. She found the old and deserted department store, and when no-one was looking Hermione quickly walked through the glass and into St Mungo's. the reception room at St Mungo's was unusually busy, but as Hermione remembered it was most likely because of the explosion back in the cave. Hermione made her way through the throng, struggling to reach the window where the receptionist was sitting. She waited in line for what seemed to be a lifetime, before it was her turn. The blonde witch that had been working there in her own fifth year when they went to visit Mr Weasley in hospital, was still there, though her hair was lined with grey and she had grown quite a few more wrinkles.
"What can I help you with?" the witch asked exhausted.
"I'd like to know what ward a Mr Harry Potter is staying in", Hermione asked nervously.
"That'll be fourth floor, third ward on the right, the Dilys Derwent Ward", the witch replied. "You're not the first today, it seems a whole clan of red heads are already up there. They threatened to curse me unless they told me where he was and when they could go and visit him", the witch added, looking quite terrified at the memory. Hermione chuckled to herself, trying to imagine nine Weasleys all looking thunderous at her, threatening to curse her. No the witch was right, that is quite a terrifying thought.
"Thanks", Hermione smiled and headed up the stairs, stopping when she had reached the fourth floor. She walked along the wide hallway, counting the wards as she passed and when she came to the third ward on her right, she stopped and walked in. Surrounding a small bed near the back were what seemed to be the whole Weasley family, all crowding around a man lying on his bed. Hermione nervously approached the bed and the Weasley clan surrounding the bed.
"Hermione!" Mrs Weasley exclaimed as she spotted Hermione edging towards the bed. "Dear there you are? Oh what happened to Harry?"
"Hi Mrs Weasley, everyone", Hermione replied nervously, smiling shyly. She smiled at the Weasley family now looking at her, taking in Ginny's pale face and gaunt eyes, Fred and George's nervous looks back towards Harry lying in the bed, Bill's calm composition and Charlie's agitation as he began chewing on his nails again. Mr Weasley was looking pale and he nervously patted Mrs Weasley's shoulder as she stood up and walked towards Hermione, enveloping the poor girl in a tight hug. Hermione smiled at Mrs Weasley when Molly let go.
"Oh god Hermione, come closer and sit down and tell us what happened!" So Hermione sat down on a chair next to Harry's bed and explained the whole story as best as she could to the Weasley family, seeing their faces pale and watched as they cast worried looks to each other. When she finished she sighed and looked at Harry lying on the bed.
"Oh you poor dear, that must have been terrible!" Mrs Weasley said sympathetically.
Hermione nodded slowly as she bent her head. "So what did the Medi-Wizards say about Harry? Is he alright?"
"He's in a coma dear", Mrs Weasley replied sadly. "They think whatever curse this dark wizard placed on Harry it put him in a coma. They're looking for the curse that was used on him and how its effects can be lifted".
"A curse?" Hermione asked puzzled, raising her head and scrutinising Mrs Weasley. "I've never heard of no curse doing that kind of damage before and I work with this sort of thing everyday!"
"I know dear", Mrs Weasley said patting Hermione's knee, as if trying to reassure her.
"There's something else to this and it has to do with the explosion. Did the Medi-Wizard say there was a link?"
"They don't quite know, they said it could be possible but since they don't know what that explosion did to the Aurors and dark wizards, they can't decide whether it has anything to do with Harry's condition or not", Mrs Weasley replied.
"Oh God!" Hermione sighed dropping her head in her hands. "This is just too much!"
"I know dear", Mrs Weasley said hugging Hermione tightly, "but we have to stick together and hope for the best. Harry is strong, he will make it!"
"Yeah", Hermione replied smiling at her. "Say was Ron here?"
"Ron?" Mrs Weasley asked puzzled and Hermione distinctly heard the others sit up straighter in their seats and watch Hermione. "Yes, he left about twenty minutes ago, said he had some important things to do, something about Krista. Why do you ask?"
"I need to go talk to him, sort some things out", Hermione replied getting up off her seat and smiling at the rest of the Weasley family. "Bye and thank you!"
"Of course dear", Mrs Weasley replied puzzled and Ginny waved goodbye to Hermione, while the boys all smiled at her.
Hermione smiled and added, "Bye". With that she turned around and nearly ran out of the ward, rushing as fast as she could through the throng towards the reception area, and out onto the busy high street. She quickly ran to the nearest deserted alleyway and Apparated away.
Really she didn't know what she was doing there, this was so crazy and unexpected of her and not something book-worm, studious, know-it-all Hermione does, yet at the same time it felt so right and like something she should have done a long time ago. Why on earth she didn't do this before, really amazed her, but right at that moment walking towards Ron's place, along the near deserted roads and alleyways, Hermione got to think about how blind she had really been. Ok so she kind of knew she always had some feelings towards Ron, no matter how hard she tried to fight them or hide them they were still there. That she had accepted, but she wasn't prepared for the consequences of having feelings for Ron. The consequences that eventually made her fall head over heels in love again, like she had been years ago. That she hadn't expected and prepared for. But now she couldn't get out of it, and frankly Hermione was tired of always fighting it, denying it for the sake of her honour, her friendship and her respect. It was time to give into those feelings and take a chance. Right then, at that moment, Hermione felt exactly how Harry was, like she was in a comatose, exhausted and too wrecked to do anything anymore. Well it was about time, she made a turnaround in her life. She was certainly due for it.
The rain started pouring, momentarily waking Hermione from her trance, as the droplets fell to the ground, soaking Hermione in mere minutes. Rainfall this heavy was not normal and if she were in a right state of mind she would have realised that, but at that moment if it didn't concern Ron Weasley she didn't care. Everything could wait. Its time for actions and that's what she was doing to do. She bravely walked up the steps to his door, ringing the bell as she waited for a reply. She did not have to wait long for the door to open and reveal a rather tired looking Ron, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts. Hermione was momentarily caught in a trance, completely caught off guard by the sight of him in his underwear, that perfectly sculpted chest exposed, that chest he must have spent years at Quidditch training perfecting. His hair was still wet, falling into his clear blue eyes and there was a surprised look on his face. As Hermione's eyes travelled downwards, she fully appreciated her view, wanting to touch every muscle and inch of skin Ron had. Her gaze lingered down to his boxers and the fine trail of orange hair disappearing beneath his boxer shorts, to places Hermione could only remember distantly.
"Err Hermione? What are you doing here, because if you feel you want to start shouting at me again, I'm really not in the mood", Ron said still a little shocked by her appearance at his doorstep in the middle of the night, in the soaking rain.
"I've come to say I'm sorry for the way I've treated you and the way I accused you of using me because things were going bad with you and Krista. I know you still care for me Ron and I should have never accused you of not caring, because now I see you do, and I just wanted to tell you this before I never get the chance to say it again. I still love you, I always have and I always will!" Ron just gaped at her.
The nerves Hermione had been feeling only seconds ago, began to evaporate as she watched Ron gaping at her. Hermione began to grow impatient and started tapping her foot. This was really not going to plan, Ron was meant to sweep her off her feet, kiss her passionately and they would live happily ever after. He was not meant to stand here gaping at her, as if she just said something really horrible.
"Well aren't you going to say something?" she asked crossly.
"I...I...just wanted you to know love you too. You mean so much to me Hermione!" Ron stammered, floundering on his words. "You always meant the world to me!"
Hermione smiled and for the first time in a long time things were working out right for her. So she added coyly, "Are you going to kiss me now, or do I have to do that myself?" Ron's mouth literally dropped to the floor. Hermione giggled and by God did it feel good to giggle. She took a step towards him and gently closed his mouth for him, her fingers lingering on his lips, and without thinking any more she leaned in and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck, loving the feel of his arms winding their way around her small waist. He pulled her closer, begging for more of her, as she gave in readily, opening her mouth to give his tongue more, as their tongues danced their dance. It felt almost like electric shocks were coursing through her body, so she clung on tighter to Ron, loving the feeling on him so close to her, loving the feel of his wet hair in her hands, his firm arms around her waist and his perfect chest which she was leaning against. He just felt so right. She slowly started walking backwards, Ron leading the way back into the house never letting go of Hermione and without a backwards glance the door was slammed shut behind them.
Hermione shook as she Apparated at the front of her building, her hands were trembling as she dug them into her pockets and pulled out her keys. She opened up the outer door to her apartment building, rushing up the stairs as fast as her feet could take her, the sobs now over-powering her body. She fumbled with her keys, desperately trying to get the door open, the sobs wracking her body and making her small frame tremble under the force of them. Her hands were shaky and slippery and when she dropped her keys, Hermione let a rather loud rush of sobs over-power her as she slumped to the ground, crying into her hands. It was like three years before, just after Ron had left her and she never thought she could survive that, and here she was again and Ron was putting her through that exact same misery again. It had been three years and Hermione thought she had properly gotten past Ron and all that was connected with him, but sitting there against her door, crying like there was nothing to live for, made Hermione realise how little progress she had really made. She was still the same blundering girl of three years ago, still pinning after the same idiotic man that broke her heart all those years ago, the same man that infuriated her and made her feel alive like no-one else could. She really hadn't changed at all.
"No!" Hermione cried at this last thought, furiously hitting the wall with her fist as the anger and frustration took over, but all that she accomplished from hitting the wall was a bruised hand and a now increasing throbbing pain.
"Pull yourself together Hermione!" she said furiously to herself as she rose off the ground and angrily wiped the tears away from her eyes. She was strong and she didn't Ron to make her happy. She picked the keys up off the ground and opened her flat door, hanging the keys on their usual rack beside the door. She pulled off her cloak and hung it on a peg next to the keys, flicking on the light switch as she walked further into the apartment, as she made her way into the living room and slouched down on her sofa. She leaned forwards on the sofa, burying her face in her hands as she sat there for a minute trying to think. Her thoughts were so jammed full with Ron that she had barely thought of her best friend, probably lying in some hospitable bed, dead for all she knew and here she was crying over the latest thing Ron had done wrong. She rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands, feeling thoroughly ashamed of her lack of concern towards her best friend, letting the sobs return as she shook there, sitting on her sofa worrying about her best friend. All that she could tell from Harry's state before the Medi-Witch took Harry away was that he must be in some form of coma for he was not reacting to any re-awakening charms she had put on him. Hermione looked across her living room, letting the tears flow down her cheeks as she looked up at the photo of her, Harry and Ron on their last day of school hanging on the wall opposite her, above the mantelpiece. She had had the photo enlarged and framed, where it was now hanging in a beautifully carved wooden frame next to her slip of parchment announcing the amount of NEWTs she had gotten. She was so proud of her thirteen NEWTs that she had the parchment framed and hung it next to the other most important thing to her, her friends. Ron had made such fun of her, when she first framed the parchment and hung it above the mantelpiece, but after she had ignored him for half a day, he relented and apologised profusely.
Thinking of Ron again, made her heart ache and she gazed up at the photo of herself and Ron and Harry, smiling as the much younger Ron blushed at her and then smiled. Looking at Ron back when he was eighteen made Hermione smile as she remembered all her happy days when they had first started dating. All those romantic cafes he used to take her to, and those quiet picnics in the Astronomy Tower at night he used to drag her to, telling her as Prefects they had to use their powers for themselves once in a while. It used to make Hermione frown and launch into another of her speeches about how power should not be abused, but Ron would always kiss her and therefore end that conversation. Afterwards Hermione would be too concerned with kissing Ron more to worry about lecturing Ron. After-all he had heard that speech a thousand times before. Hermione smiled at those thoughts, but when she realised what she was going, she grew angry with herself, rubbing her eyes once more to try and banish all those happy thoughts of Ron. She got up off her seat, making her way to the kitchen for a nice cup of tea. She filled her kettle with water and set it to the boil, waiting impatiently for the water to boil. She had just made up her mind to walk back into the living room and get her wand from the coffee table to magically heat the water quicker, when she changed her mind and walked out of the kitchen grabbing her wand and cloak along the way as she headed out of her apartment, locking her door and Apparating away.
Within seconds she had re-appeared on the deserted alleyway where Hermione briskly walked to the main road and onto the sideway, looking at all the shops that were lining each side of the main street. She found the old and deserted department store, and when no-one was looking Hermione quickly walked through the glass and into St Mungo's. the reception room at St Mungo's was unusually busy, but as Hermione remembered it was most likely because of the explosion back in the cave. Hermione made her way through the throng, struggling to reach the window where the receptionist was sitting. She waited in line for what seemed to be a lifetime, before it was her turn. The blonde witch that had been working there in her own fifth year when they went to visit Mr Weasley in hospital, was still there, though her hair was lined with grey and she had grown quite a few more wrinkles.
"What can I help you with?" the witch asked exhausted.
"I'd like to know what ward a Mr Harry Potter is staying in", Hermione asked nervously.
"That'll be fourth floor, third ward on the right, the Dilys Derwent Ward", the witch replied. "You're not the first today, it seems a whole clan of red heads are already up there. They threatened to curse me unless they told me where he was and when they could go and visit him", the witch added, looking quite terrified at the memory. Hermione chuckled to herself, trying to imagine nine Weasleys all looking thunderous at her, threatening to curse her. No the witch was right, that is quite a terrifying thought.
"Thanks", Hermione smiled and headed up the stairs, stopping when she had reached the fourth floor. She walked along the wide hallway, counting the wards as she passed and when she came to the third ward on her right, she stopped and walked in. Surrounding a small bed near the back were what seemed to be the whole Weasley family, all crowding around a man lying on his bed. Hermione nervously approached the bed and the Weasley clan surrounding the bed.
"Hermione!" Mrs Weasley exclaimed as she spotted Hermione edging towards the bed. "Dear there you are? Oh what happened to Harry?"
"Hi Mrs Weasley, everyone", Hermione replied nervously, smiling shyly. She smiled at the Weasley family now looking at her, taking in Ginny's pale face and gaunt eyes, Fred and George's nervous looks back towards Harry lying in the bed, Bill's calm composition and Charlie's agitation as he began chewing on his nails again. Mr Weasley was looking pale and he nervously patted Mrs Weasley's shoulder as she stood up and walked towards Hermione, enveloping the poor girl in a tight hug. Hermione smiled at Mrs Weasley when Molly let go.
"Oh god Hermione, come closer and sit down and tell us what happened!" So Hermione sat down on a chair next to Harry's bed and explained the whole story as best as she could to the Weasley family, seeing their faces pale and watched as they cast worried looks to each other. When she finished she sighed and looked at Harry lying on the bed.
"Oh you poor dear, that must have been terrible!" Mrs Weasley said sympathetically.
Hermione nodded slowly as she bent her head. "So what did the Medi-Wizards say about Harry? Is he alright?"
"He's in a coma dear", Mrs Weasley replied sadly. "They think whatever curse this dark wizard placed on Harry it put him in a coma. They're looking for the curse that was used on him and how its effects can be lifted".
"A curse?" Hermione asked puzzled, raising her head and scrutinising Mrs Weasley. "I've never heard of no curse doing that kind of damage before and I work with this sort of thing everyday!"
"I know dear", Mrs Weasley said patting Hermione's knee, as if trying to reassure her.
"There's something else to this and it has to do with the explosion. Did the Medi-Wizard say there was a link?"
"They don't quite know, they said it could be possible but since they don't know what that explosion did to the Aurors and dark wizards, they can't decide whether it has anything to do with Harry's condition or not", Mrs Weasley replied.
"Oh God!" Hermione sighed dropping her head in her hands. "This is just too much!"
"I know dear", Mrs Weasley said hugging Hermione tightly, "but we have to stick together and hope for the best. Harry is strong, he will make it!"
"Yeah", Hermione replied smiling at her. "Say was Ron here?"
"Ron?" Mrs Weasley asked puzzled and Hermione distinctly heard the others sit up straighter in their seats and watch Hermione. "Yes, he left about twenty minutes ago, said he had some important things to do, something about Krista. Why do you ask?"
"I need to go talk to him, sort some things out", Hermione replied getting up off her seat and smiling at the rest of the Weasley family. "Bye and thank you!"
"Of course dear", Mrs Weasley replied puzzled and Ginny waved goodbye to Hermione, while the boys all smiled at her.
Hermione smiled and added, "Bye". With that she turned around and nearly ran out of the ward, rushing as fast as she could through the throng towards the reception area, and out onto the busy high street. She quickly ran to the nearest deserted alleyway and Apparated away.
Really she didn't know what she was doing there, this was so crazy and unexpected of her and not something book-worm, studious, know-it-all Hermione does, yet at the same time it felt so right and like something she should have done a long time ago. Why on earth she didn't do this before, really amazed her, but right at that moment walking towards Ron's place, along the near deserted roads and alleyways, Hermione got to think about how blind she had really been. Ok so she kind of knew she always had some feelings towards Ron, no matter how hard she tried to fight them or hide them they were still there. That she had accepted, but she wasn't prepared for the consequences of having feelings for Ron. The consequences that eventually made her fall head over heels in love again, like she had been years ago. That she hadn't expected and prepared for. But now she couldn't get out of it, and frankly Hermione was tired of always fighting it, denying it for the sake of her honour, her friendship and her respect. It was time to give into those feelings and take a chance. Right then, at that moment, Hermione felt exactly how Harry was, like she was in a comatose, exhausted and too wrecked to do anything anymore. Well it was about time, she made a turnaround in her life. She was certainly due for it.
The rain started pouring, momentarily waking Hermione from her trance, as the droplets fell to the ground, soaking Hermione in mere minutes. Rainfall this heavy was not normal and if she were in a right state of mind she would have realised that, but at that moment if it didn't concern Ron Weasley she didn't care. Everything could wait. Its time for actions and that's what she was doing to do. She bravely walked up the steps to his door, ringing the bell as she waited for a reply. She did not have to wait long for the door to open and reveal a rather tired looking Ron, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts. Hermione was momentarily caught in a trance, completely caught off guard by the sight of him in his underwear, that perfectly sculpted chest exposed, that chest he must have spent years at Quidditch training perfecting. His hair was still wet, falling into his clear blue eyes and there was a surprised look on his face. As Hermione's eyes travelled downwards, she fully appreciated her view, wanting to touch every muscle and inch of skin Ron had. Her gaze lingered down to his boxers and the fine trail of orange hair disappearing beneath his boxer shorts, to places Hermione could only remember distantly.
"Err Hermione? What are you doing here, because if you feel you want to start shouting at me again, I'm really not in the mood", Ron said still a little shocked by her appearance at his doorstep in the middle of the night, in the soaking rain.
"I've come to say I'm sorry for the way I've treated you and the way I accused you of using me because things were going bad with you and Krista. I know you still care for me Ron and I should have never accused you of not caring, because now I see you do, and I just wanted to tell you this before I never get the chance to say it again. I still love you, I always have and I always will!" Ron just gaped at her.
The nerves Hermione had been feeling only seconds ago, began to evaporate as she watched Ron gaping at her. Hermione began to grow impatient and started tapping her foot. This was really not going to plan, Ron was meant to sweep her off her feet, kiss her passionately and they would live happily ever after. He was not meant to stand here gaping at her, as if she just said something really horrible.
"Well aren't you going to say something?" she asked crossly.
"I...I...just wanted you to know love you too. You mean so much to me Hermione!" Ron stammered, floundering on his words. "You always meant the world to me!"
Hermione smiled and for the first time in a long time things were working out right for her. So she added coyly, "Are you going to kiss me now, or do I have to do that myself?" Ron's mouth literally dropped to the floor. Hermione giggled and by God did it feel good to giggle. She took a step towards him and gently closed his mouth for him, her fingers lingering on his lips, and without thinking any more she leaned in and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck, loving the feel of his arms winding their way around her small waist. He pulled her closer, begging for more of her, as she gave in readily, opening her mouth to give his tongue more, as their tongues danced their dance. It felt almost like electric shocks were coursing through her body, so she clung on tighter to Ron, loving the feeling on him so close to her, loving the feel of his wet hair in her hands, his firm arms around her waist and his perfect chest which she was leaning against. He just felt so right. She slowly started walking backwards, Ron leading the way back into the house never letting go of Hermione and without a backwards glance the door was slammed shut behind them.
