A/N: You are all so incredibly sexy it's b l i n d i n g . 3 Thank you for reading, and please review, if you liked it or not. It makes me a better writer. This chapter was so easy to write, it almost wrote its self. I have part of what would have been chapter 4 written already, except the story kind of took on a life of its own, and it is now probably chapter 5. Erica, thanks so incredibly much for everything. You're awesome, and everyone knows it, especially me. Thanks for all of your (not so, ha ha) loving help with this story. EVERYONE GO READ HER STORY! It's called Prince Charming, and it's a Lily/James fanfic.
Leditor From the Editor: LOOK!!! I get to have my very own leditor!! ::twirls:: This chapter is quite brilliant, as is the rest of the story. And the things Sel has in store for this...::shakes head:: Ya'll are in for a ride. Enjoy the chapter, let Sel know just how much you love it, and we'll get the next chapter out as soon as we can.
The lovely ::cough:: editor of this lovely story,
Erica Michelle OraNge Welling Potter Weasley. ::cough::
And you get major brownie points and a cookie if you know who Donaghin Tremlett is, and where I stumbled upon his name.
Love don't come easy
It's a game of give and take
I can't hurry love, no, you'll just have to wait
You gotta trust, give it time
No matter how long it takes
How many heartaches must I stand
Before I find the love to let me live again?
Right now the only thing that keeps me hanging on,
When I feel my strength, yeah, it's almost gone
{Intro to Chapter 3}
"What do you mean? How can he be... Be… Dying?" I stammered, as my stomach dropped through the basement. "I saw him yesterday, mum. Yesterday. And he was fine. He wasn't exactly Donaghin Tremlett, but he wasn't… He didn't look like he was-" I broke off my sentence, unable to even conceive the idea of him dying.
"Dr. Northwood sent an urgent owl to the burrow… Oh, Merlin, what am I going to do…" she paced around my living room aimlessly.
"What did it say?"
"It said… What does it matter what it said? I have to get over to the hospital… Do you have floo powder here?"
"What did it say, mum?" She turned to face me, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Ginny, if you know your mother at all, you should know that I have more important things to think about than what the letter said. Now are you going to tell me where the floo powder is, or will I have to go next door and find some?"
"It's in the cupboard… Mum... Someone has to tell- Oh, MERLIN! Hermione! Did you tell her? I'll go over there, she'll want to come to the hospital, and I have to owl Erica and explain what's going on…" I thrust the floo powder at her and ran for Ephiny, who hooted anxiously.
{Chapter 3 – You Can't Hurry Love}
I stood in my bathroom, staring into the mirror appraisingly as I brushed my hair.
"You'll never find a date staring into the mirror like Narcissus."
"Hush up, you!" I retorted. Ever since Fred and George had come to visit Charlie and me, the mirror had been back talking nonstop. I ran a hand through my hair, in an last ditch effort to tame it somehow. While I missed the feel of the long, wild hair of my younger years, I appreciated the simplicity of short hair, no matter how brutal it was to tame. But it would grow back, eventually, whether I missed it or not.
Hearing a knock at my window, I left the room, and turned off the light, amid shrieks of "What are you doing? Why did you turn out the lights on me? Where are you going?! WHAT'D I EVER DO TO YOU?!"
I glanced at the window, startled to notice that it was pouring, and I'd never noticed. Who would send an owl out in such atrocious weather?
Opening the window, I recognized the owl as Ephiny, Ginny's Boreal.
"Ephy, what're you doing here?" I murmured, more to myself than to Ephiny. I took the soaked page from her leg, and muttered a spell to dry it off. I could barely read her illegible scrawl. Tapping the brush against the banister, I skimmed quickly, feeling the world spin around me. Dropping the brush on the floor and shoving the letter in my back pocket, I ran up the stairs like I was on fire to get my cloak.
"What do you mean; you won't let me in to see him? Are you aware of whom you're talking to?" I shrieked at "E. Wright"
"Ma'am, I can't let you in. I wasn't given authorization to allow you up into that wing."
"WHOSE AUTHORIZATION DO YOU NEED?!" I screamed "I DON'T CARE WHAT I HAVE TO DO, YOU CAN BET THAT I WILL GET UP TO ROOM 4828 TO SEE HIM IF I HAVE TO CURSE YOU AND EVERY WIZARD IN THIS WARD TO DO IT!"
As I tapped my foot, I heard heels clicking down the hallway. I turned to see who it was.
"Hermione! There you are! Where have you been?" Ginny stood before me.
"This… This… This wizard won't let me up to see Harry. I'm not 'authorized' enough for him." I ranted.
"Mr…" She paused, reading the silver badge gleaming on his uniform, "Wright. Hermione Granger was authorized four hours ago. I'm sure that if you look on your SAIP sheet, it will mention her name. If you had looked a half hour ago, I'm sure that you wouldn't have wasted her time, or mine." She strode off, leaving an embarrassed and irritated guard in her wake.
"I'd like a badge with my name and what I am doing here on it. And I want it NOW." I said, pointing my wand at him.
"Right ma'am." He said, handing me a gleaming badge with my name on it.
"Are you going to tell me where I might find room 4828 or just sit there like the incompetent fool that you are?"
"First door on the right, ma'am." He replied, sneering slightly.
"You sneer at me again and your lips will be in a completely different section of your body. And that's not a threat; that's a promise." I said, striding down the hall.
I opened the door to Harry's room, bracing myself for the worst possible scenario; Harry dying before my eyes, hooked up to tubes and with wires surrounding him. What I saw was worse.
Fred and George and their respective fiancées, Angelina and Alicia, stood on the left side of his bed, looking as somber as I'd ever seen them. Bill, Percy and Penny were at the foot of the bed, Percy holding Penny's hand tightly, and Bill with a hand on Percy's shoulder. And on the right… Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, standing with Ginny and Remus Lupin. I walked into the room, gazing around at his family… My family.
Harry wasn't hooked up to an EKG, or a respirator. He wasn't hooked up to anything, really. He looked peaceful, sleeping blissfully. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and saw Percy beckoning for me to follow him into the hall.
"The doctors," his voice broke, and he tried again, "The doctors say that he's fallen into a- what do muggles call it? A coma. And that he's failing, his heart isn't as strong as it has been, as it needs to be… They think he'll die before tomorrow unless something drastic happens."
He turned and reentered the cold, whitewashed room, leaving me out in the hallway. I put a hand on my forehead, leaning against a wall; feeling like my world was spiraling dangerously towards the ground.
I heard a door swing open, and looked up into Ginny's face.
"Oh, Gin…" I said, not knowing what to say, for the first time in recent memory.
"I'm going to stay with him tonight… See if there's anything I can do… I studied this type if illness in school. Maybe there's something I can do…" she trailed off, clenching her fists. I gazed up at her.
"I'm staying." I replied, confidently standing up.
"No," she shook her head "you're not."
"Ginevra Rose Weasley, I am staying whether or not you approve of it, or whether or not you want me here, I'm staying."
"I know that, 'Mione. But I can't let you stay here tonight."
"Oh, really, Dr. Weasley?" I mocked her, knowing I was playing with fire. "I don't see how you're going to stop me." I crossed my arms, and stood defiantly.
"Don't do this, Hermione." She retorted, icily.
"How can I not?" I said, losing my patience. "My brother is in that room, Ginny. I love him and I am not leaving without knowing that he's going to be okay."
"Mione, you know I want you to stay. It's against St. Mungos policy, and would be breaking about fifty rules, and I can't do any healing with anyone who wasn't trained in the room; you know that. Do you want t compromise the only opportunity Harry might have?" she said, though I already knew I was fighting a losing battle.
"Fine. I won't stay, but you can bet I'll be back here if there's any change. And you owl me if there is any change, good or bad. Okay, Gin?" I said, trying to regain the upper hand.
"Mmm… Right, 'Mione. I'll do just that." She replied, looking at her watch. "I've got to run; I have to go do rounds. Tell everyone to go home, and tell Charlie that I love him, when he gets back from Ireland." She gave me a brief hug, and walked off down the hall.
I took a deep breath, and walked back into the room. While I wasn't a healer, I could determine several things about Harry. From the purple line hovering slightly over his head, I knew that his breathing was steady, but slow. The green line monitored his heartbeat, and the yellow line his brain signals. Both were erratic. I knew that wizard comas were extremely rare and were only brought on by trauma to both the heart and the lungs, and extreme mental anguish. While it wasn't irreversible, it was extremely trying on the body, and most wizards died before they awoke.
But Ginny was a very accomplished healer, and I had the utmost faith that if there was a way to save him, she knew it, and if there wasn't a way, she'd create one.
"Well, ah." Fred said, breaking the notable silence in the room that had made it feel somber and morbid, "George and I have to go, we have a new worker managing the store,"
"And she doesn't really have any idea of what she's doing, and we don't want her to open anything-" George paused.
"Dangerous." Angelina and Alicia finished simultaneously. I laughed, in spite of it all. They sounded like sisters themselves. Fred and George kissed Angie and Alicia, and Penny on the cheek, embraced Percy and Bill and hugged me tight.
"Don't worry, 'Mione." Fred muttered into my ear. "Gin's on this one, you can bet that she'll never let anything happen to Harry as long as she's breathing. It'll be fine." I kissed him on the cheek, hugged George, and they left.
As if Fred and George's departure had released a bit of tension, everyone started to talk at once.
"Hey! Everyone!" Mr. Weasley (I still thought of him that way, even after all these years.) said, gathering our attention. "I don't know about you all, but Molly and I are ravenous. Let's go to The Burrow for dinner." There was a general assent, and we all filed out of the room, glancing back at Harry.
"Adf fe fefd fdat fi zond dow whet ve fed." Bill said to Mr. Weasley, spraying Angelina with mashed potatoes. Angie belted Bill across the abdomen angrily.
"Fey! Whfd," he swallowed, "What was that for?!"
"You sprayed me with chewed mashed potatoes! That's so unsanitary!" she retorted, scourgifying herself. I picked at my food, not extremely hungry. Ginny hadn't owled, I was unsure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. As if reading my thoughts, an owl flew through the kitchens open window, and hovered around Mrs. Weasleys head.
"Hermione, there's a letter for you." She passed the letter down across the table, and the owl came and perched on my chair.
"Hermione, Don't worry the whole house, but you need to come to St. Mungos RIGHT NOW. - Ginny"
I turned white, and stood.
"I… Don't feel so good. I'm going to go back to my flat and take a nap… Thanks for dinner, Molly, it was wonderful." I said, and ran out of the room.