Jay Morris

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, just the gremlins in my head.

"Chapter 10: Recovery"

Draco woke to someone tapping on his arm. Devine stood by him, and looked even more tired than he felt.

"You need to go home and rest."

"Until she wakes up, I won't be able to."

"Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately Draco?"

"No."

"Try it."

Draco turned to look in the mirror that Devine handed him. The bags under his eyes were heavy, and his hair was a mess. He looked pale, and his eyes were red from crying.

"I look terrible."

"You're not the only one."

"Wait a minute, when did I fall asleep? And I thought you went home."

"Well, see, um . . . after I transferred the babies, and did all that; I tried to get you to go home and you told me to basically shove it. I said fine, but when you weren't looking I slipped a sleeping potion into your drink so you would fall asleep in time."

"Thanks, I probably needed it."

"I just wish I could fix what's ailing me."

"Your 'urges'?"

"You've learned much little one."

"Hey, I'm only six inches shorter than you."

"Even if you were my same height, would it matter?"

"Probably not. Say, by the way how is my little girl?"

"She and Ginny are doing fine. I have the nurse send me an owl if Ginny even has to cough more than usual. I'm watching out for them dear boy. And speaking of boys, Ginny and Harry's boy is allright. They still haven't picked out a name, but that's always a hard decision."

"Professor?"

"Yes Draco?"

"What happens to a mind that is in a coma?"

"Draco . . . I don't really know. And I can't just go looking into her mind for that answer, because I may harm her. But you know you could try the ring I gave you."

"What ring? Oh, that ring. I don't understand."

"I said that it would allow people who wear those rings to communicate with thought. I didn't say they both had to be awake did I?"

"That's right. Could you leave me alone with her when I try it? Please?"

"Okay, but on one condition."

"Yes?"

"I'm having the nurse come in here in thirty minutes. If you're not asleep or gone, he has full permission to make you go home or give you another sleeping potion so you get some rest. You've been here three days non-stop, and it's going to kill you. You're gonna need your strength soon."

"Okay. Good night Professor Devine."

Devine excused himself from the room quitely, and Draco could hear his feet on the tile walking down the hall. Since Ginny had been moved so Bob could keep a better watch on her condition, Draco was alone with Hermione. He pulled out his ring, put it on, and pulled out the ring he meant to give Hermione. The gold glistened in the hospital light, but the ruby's seemed to be fading. Draco made up his mind, and slipped the ring onto her left ring finger. Then, closing his eyes, he concentrated. Light and sound seemed to be left behind him, as he soared through a black tunnel. Up ahead was a light, and a sweet music. The light got brighter, then suddenly went out.

"Hello."

Draco moved his hands away from his eyes. It was Hermione, and she was allright. Could this be real? No, they were in a meadow with birds, and in reality they were in a hospital.

"Hello Hermione."

"How do you know my name? I don't even know yours."

Draco was puzzled. How could she not know his name? They loved each other.

"Do you want to know my name?"

"Sure."

"My name is Draco."

"Hello Draco. It's very nice to have company here."

"Where's here?"

"This is an old forest near where I lived when I was a wee lass. But, I thought they had torn it down for a new factory. I just can't remember; oh well."

Draco was still puzzled. He took Hermione by the hand to get her attention.

"Yes Draco?"

"Who am I?"

"And I thought my memory was bad; you're Draco."

"Who else am I?"

"I don't understand."

"What's my last name? What house do I belong to at Hogwarts? Who's my father?"

"I don't know."

Draco's eyes welled up into tears. His beloved now had a mind of a child, and didn't remember anything but blurs of the past. He'd murder his father for this. Wait a minute! Snape was a potions teacher! Maybe he could come and find an antidote for this problem, and Draco could have Hermione back.

"I have to go."

"So soon Draco. But you only just got here."

"I know. I'll be back I promise."

"Okay."

Draco turned around. He didn't really know how to leave. But, there was a door on a tree over there. He walked over to it.

"NO!"

Draco whirled around to see Hermione running to him.

"Don't open that door! It's full of scary stuff down there. I'm too afraid to even come near this door."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

Draco closed his eyes, and opened them. He was back in the hospital, and Hermione was here in her bed. Draco wiped the tears from his eyes. He'd find a way to get Hermione back, even if it took the remainder of the four months that they had left in this little village.

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Harry paid a visit to Ginny. Their boy was in a bed right next to her's, and he was sleeping peacefully. He was a plump baby, weighing ten pounds when born. He had neither black nor red hair, but an auburn sort of hair.

"Hi Harry." Ginny was looking at him and looked very tired.

"Hi Ginny. How's Hermione and Draco's little girl?"

"She's growing, and she kicks every now and again. I just feel so bad for Hermione. This should be her privilege not mine."

"I know what you mean. Draco is taking her being attacked very hard. He's so useless at work that the boss just gave him a week off to recover, and try to get his emotions back in order."

"And what of the investigation?" Ginny wouldn't be fooled into thinking he wasn't trying desperately to find Hermione's attacker, and her own attacker.

"We have the Ministry heavily involved. If Lucius shows his face even in his own home he'll be attacked. Why?"

"I've known you too long to think you'd let anything offensive blow past you. And the Daily Prophet has been having a circus with our events up here everyday."

"I stopped reading it a couple of weeks ago."

"Right after my attack?"

"Yeah."

A slight knock on the door, was preceded by Draco walking quietly in.

"Can I talk to you guys for a minute?"

Harry looked at Ginny questioningly only to receive the same look. Ginny turned to Draco. "Sure. Have a seat."

"It's sort of a long tale, but I need to get this off my shoulders, and I don't want to bother Devine with this."

Then I'll bother him, Harry thought. Professor Devine. I want you to eavesdrop through my ears to hear what Draco's saying. I think you need to hear this.

Draco took a deep breath and began talking. He told Harry and Ginny about the four rings of Devine, his full account of Hermione's attack, and the episode he had in Hermione's coma state mind.

"What do you think could have happened to her? We're in love, and somehow she's forgotten all about me."

"You know, this is just a fleeting thought, but what if it wasn't just Xeronium in that dart that hit her? What if their was a specific potion that would keep her in a coma, and you away from her, and therefore break your spirit?"

"How did you come to that conclusion?"

"I didn't."

"Harry, are you tripping on something?"

"No. I just talked to Devine. He's on his way here, and he's gonna help you and I fix this problem. I told you I owed more to you than just a thank you. Devine also said that he had contacted Professor Snape and that Snape would be here momentarily."

Draco embraced Harry with a firm brotherly hug. His eyes welled up in tears. Devine entered and smiled when he saw them. Snape came in shortly after and cleared his throat.

"I do have other duties to attend to, if you're quite finished." Snape didn't take his eyes off of Draco.

"Oh for once in your life act like you have a heart will you?" Devine stormed out of the room. Snape followed him closely with Draco and Harry.

When they got to Hermione's room Snape walked calmly over to her side. Taking out his wand he conjured a chair for himself, and sat down. Next he started tapping his wand on parts of her body and grunting to himself.

"I don't see how this is possible. She has three different potion symptoms and none of them are truly compatible with each other. She has the symptoms of the Sleep of Death, Xeronium, and the Cloudy potions."

"What's the Cloudy potion Professor?"

"Well Mr. Potter, if you had paid attention in my class, you would have remembered that the Cloudy potion is a potion that will put the victim in a coma, and cause them to lose all real cognitive thought."

"Wow."

"Yes, wow. You gave her Redberry Nightshade berries to cure the Xeronium right?"

"Of course Severus."

"Watch your tone Devine. Now, I would normally recommend giving her a combination of Kynder Weed and the juice of rose petals to bring her out of the Sleep of Death, but that would make the Cloudy more powerful than it is now. There's nothing magic can do to bring her out of this state. Only her own will power can wake her from this spell, and unfortunately she may not have enough. Now if you'll excuse me, I have reports on Shrinking potions and Veritaserum's to read." Snape made his usual exit, with his cape giving it an air of drama. Draco sat down and put his head in his hands. Harry looked at what Draco had become, and turned to Devine. Devine was silent, and had his hand to his chin as though in very deep thought.

"I know how we can save her."

Draco's head shot straight up. "How?"

"The rings. Harry, I want you to go get the nurse ready. He'll need to have a meal ready for Hermione, and to be ready for anything else besides that. Hurry."

Harry was gone in a flash, and Devine had faith in him.

"Draco, where's the Ravenclaw ring?"

"Right here Professor."

Devine slipped his ring onto his finger.

"Okay, on the count of three we're gonna close our eyes and go help Hermione. You must be ready for anything from her past memories. You also have to be ready for her to fight us."

"Why would she?"

"We're going to open that door she didn't want you to open."

"Oh. I'm ready."

"One . . . two . . . three."

The two of them left the world of reality to end up in the same meadow that Draco had been in at first.

Hermione looked up from picking wild flowers in a very childlike dress.

"Hello Draco. Who's your friend?"

"His name is Professor Devine."

"What's he a Professor of?"

"Magic."

"I suppose that explains how quickly you disappeared last time you were here."

Hermione didn't have time to answer any more questions. Devine was running full blast toward the door that Hermione had asked Draco not to open. Draco saw this and ran after him. Devine and Draco slowed to find Hermione standing in front of the door. She was in her Hogwarts clothes, and her wand was in her hand.

"You go no further."

Devine looked at Draco and winked.

I'll take her, get to the door in any way you can and open it.

Okay.

Ready?

Go!

Devine leaped at Hermione and tackled her. She kicked him far away, and grabbed Draco by the hair and throw him next to Devine. She threw her wand aside and ran towards them.

"I won't let you open that door!"

"Anything goes here Draco. Believe and it will happen."

Devine stood up and ran toward Hermione. He brandished a sword, and attacked her to find she too had a sword in her hand. Their next moves were a blur in inhuman speed, and the sounds of the metal echoed through Hermione's world. Draco looked at his hand and imagined a Firebolt there. His fingers instantly grasped a Firebolt and like a bullet he was off for the door. But the next thing he knew bursts of fire were whizzing by his head at incredible speed. Pulling out his wand he began flying fancily. At a quick turn he noticed he was being followed by no less than seven dragons, each of them Irish Snappers, the fastest and most agile of all dragons. He aimed at one and yelled "Dracona evansco" and watched it burst into flame. Draco dodged as three more fireballs flew at him, and started dodging and weaving between the dragons. He glanced at Hermione and Devine. She now had two swords, and Devine had a double-ended larriet which he wielded with great skill. The two moved fluidly and deadly with the grace of their metal weapons and armor now on. Draco dodged another volley of fireballs and disintigrated two more dragons leaving four. He kept weaving and dodging as best as he could until a fireball shattered through the end of his Firebolt sending him falling toward the ground.

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Harry was pacing back and forth in Hermione's room. Nurse Bob was getting impatient.

"They've been in her mind for nearly thirty minutes. If they don't hurry up, they may do more harm than good."

"Please just give them ten more minutes."

"Fine, but that's it."

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Draco was falling at a not too comfortable speed, and was accelerating. The Irish Snappers were advancing on him, and would soon be on him. Then an idea came to him. Draco imagined flying, and soon he was floating over the sky. He turned around and the four final Snappers were racing to get to him. They each shot a ball of fire at him with masterful skill. Putting his wand aside, he redirected their fireballs back at them and destroyed them in a shower of pink dust. He flew at mach speed to the door, and just as he landed near the door, he saw Hermione fly several feet to the ground and roll over to look at him. With his hand on the handle he flung it open as he heard a defeaning "NOOO!"

Hermione lurched forward in her bed screaming, "NOOO! Don't open that door!"

Draco got up off the floor, and ran to her side. "Hermione it's okay. It's over. You're back. It's me."

Hermione grabbed his shoulders. "I'm back? What happened? Tell me Draco."

"How about for now you eat?" Nurse Bob suggested. "I'm going to clear these boys out of here because you're going to take it easy."

"Okay. Can Draco stay at least?" Hermione took a big bite of the stew Bob had given her.

"For five minutes only. Understood?"

"Bye Hermione. I'll see you in a little. I'll be in Ginny's room for a while." Harry walked out of the room, and almost skipped to Ginny's.

"I've got to go too Hermione. You can pack quite a punch when you want to. I'll fill you in on the details Draco doesn't later."

Draco watched Devine walk out, and turned his attention back to Hermione. With no one else in the room he felt a peace he hadn't felt in a while.

"Hermione it's wonderful that you're back."

"Would you just shut up and kiss me? I know you've been wanting to for a while."

"Am I that obvious?"

The nurse came in, cleared his throat, and stood for another three minutes before the two stopped.

"Can I administer to my patient with medicine yet? I do have other patients you know."

"I'm sorry. Bye Hermione. I'll be back later."

"Make it much later," Bob threatened.

Hermione laughed and turned back to her stew and cornbread.

N/A: See, I can be nice. I really am sorry about the cliff hangers, but they're so much fun. I'll try to get more written ASAP, but no promises okay?