CHAPTER 24 Something's Gotta Give

Ron paled as he heard that fake little cough, fearing that the Umbridge woman was standing in front of him, but when he realised that it was actually Krista he paled at the sight of her angry face. He noticed Hermione had quickly unwrapped herself from Ron and had stepped away looking at her feet. Ron nervously looked up at his girlfriend, fearing the worst as she glared at him.

"Ron can I have a word with you?" she asked angrily, to which Ron nodded his head, and followed her to a space a few feet away from Hermione. He didn't dare look up at her, for fear of a raging temper so he concentrated on his shoes, examining the intricate detail on his trainers.

"Ron can you at least look up at me?" Krista said icily and Ron's head snapped up, for fear of making her even more mad. From the look on her face Ron knew she had seen it all and he wouldn't be able to lie his way out of this one.

"Now are you going to tell me exactly what happened or do I have to curse you?" she asked coldly.

"Well there's not much to tell", Ron said hesitantly.

"Oh really!" Krista cried, her voice growing louder. "I suppose its not such a big deal to you cheating on your girlfriend, and with your ex of all people. No I suppose its all a walk in the park for you isn't it?"

"No its not like that Krista!" Ron said helplessly, but Krista was having none of it as she waved his comment away with a brush of her hand.

"I mean that is what you do, isn't it Ron. Whenever there's a problem you always run from it instead of facing the problem!"

"I didn't really cheat on you", Ron replied quietly, all his Gryffindor courage having disappeared at seeing her so angry.

"Then what the hell did you do?!" Krista cried out loud.

"I was comforting Hermione, I mean Harry just got hurt, she was in shock", Ron added meekly.

"Oh don't bring Harry into this!" Krista cried. "He has nothing to do with us and what you just did, and I'm sure there are a thousand ways to comfort someone without snogging the pants of them Ron, especially if you have a girlfriend!"

"I'm really sorry this all ended up like this", Ron added.

"Tell me Ron", Krista heaved calming down a little and looking him hard in the eyes. "Over the last few weeks, have you ever actually remembered your girlfriend, because you seem to spend all the time thinking of Hermione, pining over her and when you're near her its like I don't even exist!"

"Oh come on Krista its not like that", Ron replied affronted.

"Oh isn't it?!" Krista cried. "You don't think I see the way you look at her. I'm not stupid Ron I see those things!"

"I don't know", Ron sighed dropping his shoulders. "Its just with Hermione nothing's ever changed and I guess I still love her as much as I once did". Ron sighed once more looking down at the ground, hoping that maybe Krista could understand in some way.

"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's head snapped up, looking at his girlfriend in a fearful new light. She turned and started walking away from him and at that moment Ron was over-come by the sudden urge to make Krista understand why he did what he did. His brain kicked in as he ran after her, grabbing her arm and turning her around. She needed to understand.

"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 as Krista tried to turn away from him. "I just need you to understand!"

"Ron sort your story out will you, make up your bloody mind about what happened!" Krista said angrily glaring at him. Krista looked at a point past his shoulder, and suddenly curious as to what she was looking at, Ron turned around and to his horror he saw Hermione run away out of the cave.

"Well now you've really done it Ron!" she said icily and fixing her glare on him. "I hope you're happy now, because you not just wrecked our relationship but whatever relationship you could have had with Hermione! For the sake of Hermione if not for yourself, sort yourself out before you cause any more pain to the ones you love around you, and decide once and for all whether you want her or not!" Krista sighed then added coldly, "Personally I wouldn't take you back for a second but if Hermione ever fathoms the idea of having you back in her life, don't screw it up. Goodbye Ronald", and with that she turned around and walked out of the cave.

Ron sighed, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands thinking hard. He sighed one more time, slumping his shoulders feeling so low he hadn't felt in years. What Krista had said had made a lot of sense in his head and had affected him more than he would ever let on. She was right, he had mucked everything up with Hermione and the fact that Krista had told him how badly he acted hadn't didn't either.

"Ron, Ron Weasley?" Kaylee asked tentatively as she stepped up to him and laid her hand on his shoulder. Ron snapped out of his reverie and turned around to face her.

"Kaylee?" Ron asked.

"Yeah", she replied smiling sadly. "I was wondering, I saw you talking earlier to Hermione Granger and I was wondering if you knew what was happening to Harry?" She looked up at him, and Ron saw a deep sadness well within her green eyes. Ron blinked looking closer at her eyes, and for the first time he noticed they had purple streaks through them.

"Why are your eyes partly purple?" Ron asked.

"I was born with it, do you know what's happening to Harry?" Kaylee replied.

"You're Harry's girlfriend aren't you?" and Kaylee nodded. "Yeah Ginny said something about that", Ron mused. "Well they took him to St Mungo's and all they would say was that Harry was in a coma, but Hermione already established that! He had a deep gash across his stomach and his chest, but the one on his stomach had made him loose a lot of blood. He's in a critical condition and that's all I know", Ron sighed.

"Oh God!" Kaylee cried gaping at him, as her hands clapped over her mouth. "Oh no not Harry! Ron I need to go to St Mungo's and fast!"

"Yeah I'll come with you", Ron added talking out his wand and holding out his arm for Kaylee to take to steady herself, for she was looking weak on her feet. "Can you manage?"

"Yeah", Kaylee replied shakily, her hand still clapped over her mouth and the look of fear in her eyes had grown. She let go of Ron and pulled out her wand. They made their way out of the cave, slowly climbing the steps for Kaylee was still a little unsteady, and when they reached the changing rooms they both Disapparated with loud cracks. They both Apparated into a dark alleyway, which both left to walk onto the main street, making their way to St Mungo's. Two minutes later they were both walking up towards the reception desk, both wearing identical worried looks on their faces as they approached the blonde witch working behind the desk.

"We're here to see a Harry Potter. He just got taken in after the blast. Where is he?" Ron asked worried with Kaylee standing beside him.

"Mr Potter", the witch repeated scanning her list of names, resting her finger on a name and uttering an "ah".

"Mr Potter is in the Dilys Derwent Ward, that's fourth floor, Spell Damage, third ward on the right. But I don't know if you'll be allowed in, they just brought him in there, but you can ask the Healers on how he's doing, but I need to know are you family?" the witch cried out, but she couldn't finish her sentence, for upon hearing Harry's whereabouts both Ron and Kaylee thought of the same thing and both sprinted up the stairs, leaving behind the receptionist calling them to get back down. They hurried up the stairs and when they reached the fourth floor both sprinted down the end of the corridor upsetting a few Healers and patients along the way, skidding to a half in front of the Dilys Derwent Ward, seeing as the doors were closed. Ron was about to open the door, when a rather disgruntled Healer came walking up to them.

"What are you doing here, that is a closed ward. That means no visitors!"

"We're here to see Harry Potter", Ron puffed, "So if you'll please let us in".

"You're not going anywhere, so back away from the doors. Are you his family?" the Healer asked impertinently.

"I'm his girlfriend", Kaylee replied fiercely, "Can I please see him?"

"No, you can't you will have to wait until the Medi-Wizards are finished treating him", the Healer said annoyed.

"Well can you at least tell us exactly what's wrong with Harry then?" Ron asked impatiently.

"You had better sit down on the bench here", the Healer said calmly with a note of pity in his voice. Ron and Kaylee wordlessly walked across the hallway and sat down on the bench looking up expectantly at the Healer, both looking at him warily.

"Mr Potter is in a coma", the Healer said simply.

"We knew that, anything else like when he's going to come out of it?" Ron asked annoyed.

"I understand that you're worried..."

"Oh really do you, because I think you don't!" Ron cried standing up and glaring at the Healer. "That stupid book just blew up nearly killing all of us and now Harry's lying in a coma and you won't even tell me what's going on! My best friend is in a coma and I'm stuck outside his ward without any idea of what's going on. Do you know how frustrating that is?!" Ron cried out loud.

"Can you please calm down Mister, or I will have to have you removed from this hospital", the Healer said fiercely. "For your information I lost my mother to a magical bug when I was a kid!" He glared at Ron, who sat himself down on the bench again, chewing on his fingernails. "I know a lot about what its like to have to wait, now if you'll calm down I'll try and tell you as much as I can".

"Yeah sorry, I'm just wound up", Ron muttered looking up at the Healer. The Healer nodded and seemed pacified.

"Now what we can tell right now is that the injuries are both spell damage and artefact damage. The gashes across his chest and stomach were caused by swords or daggers of the sort and what knocked him into a coma was a curse. We don't know what curse it is since the idea of a curse that puts you in a coma is new to us, either dark magic or ancient magic", the Healer added seeing their confused looks. "The Medi-Wizards are trying to stabilise Mr Potter now, so we won't loose him and then we can ascertain to what extent he is wounded. The only thing you can do now is wait".

Ron nodded not looking up at the Healer, preferring to stare at his shoes and the undone laces. Kaylee got up and Ron could hear her thanking the Healer, though he did not add to that conversation, preferring to think of nothing, but soon thoughts were rushing into his head once more. His mixed up feelings of Hermione came pouring into his mind, like water breaking through a dam, his guilty feelings about Harry, his guilt at treating Krista so badly and the explosion occurring and fearing he would loose Hermione forever. He rubbed his eyes, willing the thoughts to disappear, but they refused to, clouding up his judgement. Ron got up and saw that Kaylee had been watching him.

"You look terrible", Kaylee said standing a few feet away from him.

"So do you", Ron replied nonplussed.

"Look Ron you look really tired, go home or tell your family what's happened, I'm sure they would want to know but then go and get some sleep. I can keep an eye on what's going on here, I'm not going anywhere anyway!"

"You sure?" Ron asked and Kaylee nodded. "Yeah I suppose I had better go and tell mum she'll want to know", Ron added smiling slightly at her and turning around to walk out of the hallway again, only he changed his mind and turned back to Kaylee. "Just tell me when something changes or if something happens okay?" Kaylee nodded at him and sat herself back down on the bench.

"Right bye", Ron said and walked out of the hallway, making his way out of the hospital and as soon as he found a deserted street he Disapparated away.

With a loud crack he Apparated into the kitchen, frightening Mrs Weasley so she dropped the bowl of porridge he was carrying.

"Ron for heaven's sake, you know how I hate it when you Apparate into the kitchen and frighten me half to death!" she said a hand on her chest. She pulled out her wand and the broken bowl fixed itself, the porridge re-appearing in the bowl clean and untouched. She left the bowl of porridge on the countertop and turned to face her youngest son. When she saw his tired face and the worry etched into every line on his face, she asked concerned.

"What's wrong Ron?"

"Its Harry, he's in a coma in St Mungo's", Ron said heavily looking up into his mother's eyes. Her face had paled considerably and she started calling for Arthur who appeared in the kitchen a minutes later.

"Its Harry. He's in a coma in St Mungo's", she said fearfully and Arthur paled, grabbing his cloak from the stand in the hallway and handing Mrs Weasley her own.

"We can tell Bill, Charlie and the rest from the hospital", Mr Weasley said and Mrs Weasley nodded pulling on her cloak.

"Ron honey, are you coming?" she asked turning to her youngest son.

"No, I'm going to head home", Ron sighed. "I've seen enough of hospitals for me right now". Mrs Weasley nodded and placed a kiss on his cheek, smiling weakly at him before she and Arthur Disapparated. Ron sighed pulling his wand out of his pocket and Disapparated a second or two later, appearing outside his house, stopping only to open the door magically, he was in no mood to worry about Muggles, and closed the door behind him. He slumped down onto the couch still in his travelling cloak, not thinking of much as he lay there in the semi-darkness. He would eventually get up and have a shower and head to bed, only he was too exhausted right now and his brain was buzzing too much filled with thoughts of Hermione and Harry for him to be able to do anything more than just lie there and think.

I just wanted to add this little note here, thanking everyone for their brilliant reviews and especially BuckNC for helping me out for the last chapter. In case you didn't know yet that last chapter was dedicated to you for helping me get out of a loop. I really needed that!

On another note, this is going to sound really stupid but I have a new RPG site that's just up and running and I would really appreciate it if you could have a look at it and maybe tell some of your friends about it. In return I could write chapters faster, it would really mean a lot to me if you could help me out on this because the site needs members! Here's the link to it anyway!

http: slash s4 dot invisionfree dot com slash Caislean Oir slash