Chapter 7
News quickly spread to Harry and Ginny about the occurrence in the hospital wing. Hermione awoke a few hours later to see Harry and Ginny sitting talking quietly.
" Hey Harry, Ginny." she smiled.
" Hey. Alright there?" Harry asked.
"Could be better, I suppose." she said.
" What happened?" asked Ginny.
" I don't remember." she said slowly," Where's Ron!"
She was now completely aware of where she was.
Harry and Ginny looked at each other. Hermione's heart sank.
" What happened?" she asked. " Tell me!...Please." She was pleading, but just by looking around the room found her answer.
" Oh no." she whispered.
" Hermione, Ron is-" Ginny looked to Harry for help.
" Hermione, it wasn't your fault. But Ron is ..." He was going to say doing a little better, but couldn't bring himself to lie to her.
"He's...stationary." That was the best he could come up with at the moment.
" What?" she was confused.
"Charlie came in the wing and he said that for some reason Ron had fallen out of his bed and Ron's eyes rolled in the back of his head and he passed out-" Ginny was interrupted by another scream.
"Molly, please calm down."
"Calm down, Arthur! Calm down! Our son is near death- Why should I be calm!" Mrs. Weasley was yelling through tremendous sobs.
Hermione's eyes flashed back at Ginny and Harry.
"I'll be right back." he said.
Ginny and Hermione exchanged worried glances.
Harry came back with his head hung low.
"What is it?" Hermione and Ginny asked together.
"A coma." Harry said, sadly.
At that moment Hermione was sure that life as she knew it was over.
Ron had slipped into a grade four coma. Nothing they were doing could bring him back, not even very powerful magic.
" Coma?" Hermione repeated.
Madam Pompfrey came over and told Harry to get back to his dormitory, Ginny was staying with the rest of the Weasleys. Mrs. Weasley's cries could be heard all over the magical school.
" Coma?" she said again, as Madam Pompfrey changed various things around her, she didn't even notice her bed skirt being pulled around her bed.
Hermione had a terrible time trying to sleep that night. She tossed and turned till three o'clock.
She finally gave up on sleep and decided to look at Ron.
She very carefully peered around her bed skirt. Madam Pompfrey was checking Ron's vitals.
" I just don't know Headmaster." she was telling Dumbledore.
" And Miss Granger?"
"The same."
It was then Hermione realized the sharp pains in her stomache, but she ignored them. They weren't totally unbearable, or not nearly as bad as they were when it all started, she thought.
She waited quietly until she was sure they had left. She quickly and quietly snuck over to Ron, who now lay motionless. She ran one hand down his arm to his hand, and held it tightly.
"Ron, Ron I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I did this to you, but you have to come back to me. Please I can't- I can't make it without you...I know that now. Please." She squeezed his hand, "Come back to me, I need you so much."
She kissed his forehead, and wished with all of her heart that he would wake up and kiss her back.
She quietly went back to her bed and waited to see what the morning would bring.
And what the morning brought.
First Madam Pompfrey was having a fit that Mrs. Weasley would not leave her son for one minute without supervision. Madam Pompfrey was trying to explain that people in comas didn't need absolute round the clock supervision.
Then Mrs. Weasley demanded that all of the tubes and wires be removed. But Madam Pompfrey assured her that in order for a recovery from Ron he needed to be hooked up to the various life support machines that had been magically enhanced for such circumstances.
It ended that a member of the Weasley family was there round the clock.
Mr. Weasley took most nights, muttering to himself, Mrs. Weasley during the day, crying and sewing something, Charlie always insisted that he look after Ron most nights and days, in fact Hermione was sure that sometimes that he was there for over twenty-four hours at a time, and then there was Ginny, she was there every chance that she got.
Harry, on the other hand, started skipping class to check on his two best friends. The latest time was at the present.
" Hey Hermione." he startled her.
" Harry? Shouldn't you be in Hagrid's class?"
" No, Hagrid let me off. Oh these are for you." He handed her assignments from the past two days and a card from Hagrid.
" How thoughtful." she said taking the card from Harry.
" So how is he?" he lowered his voice.
" The same. The Weasley's are here every hour of the day." she lowered her voice.
" How are you?"
" I should be back to class tomorrow." she said, " There must be some way to help him."
Harry sat in thought.
" There might be." he said carefully.