Being Watched While Being Ill

Summary: You'll never know that your best friend loves you back, until he's making you soup and holding your hair back as you throw up. A Ron and Hermione Story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I don't own Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup either.

Chapter Two: Only For You

Ron was standing in line at the grocery store. He hated Muggle shopping. It took too long. First you had to put your groceries on the conveyor belt, and then they had to scan each and every individual item, and then something usually goes wrong. Plus, Ron was standing behind a man with at least 20 billion items.

Ron just had four cans of Chicken Noodle Soup and a carton of orange juice. Just four cans and orange juice!

His ears were still red from when he argued with the man in front of him. His friend was sick for Merlin's sake, and this man wouldn't even let him get in front of him.

After a good five minutes, the man was gone, and Ron gladly scooted up so his cans and carton of orange juice could get scanned.

"Is someone sick?" The cashier asked. She ever so slowly started to scan his items.

"Yeah, my friend is sick, and I'm just getting some soup for her." Ron stated, running his hand through his hair.

"Well, that's nice of you."

This woman was going so slowly! Ron just wanted to scan his items for her. When she finally got everything scanned, Ron wanted to rejoice. "$3.76." The lady said. Ron handed her five pounds, and waited for the change. Meanwhile, he grabbed his bags, and was on the verge of running from the store.

-----

When Ron reached Hermione's flat, he knocked on her door once, heard her say something along the lines of "What?" and then opened the door.

Hermione was lying on her couch, curled up, and shivering. Ron took the groceries to the kitchen, and put them on the counter. Then he came back to the living room. He walked to Hermione, and she opened her eyes just a little bit to look at him.

"You came back?" She asked in a whisper. Her voice was now nasally congested, and it looked like she couldn't make her voice louder than a whisper.

"Of course I did. I said I would." Ron stated quietly. He reached down and felt her forehead. "You're running a fever." He said. "And your hair is soaking wet. Why didn't you dry it?"

Hermione threw her hand out and pointed toward her room. "My wands' in there." She said quietly. She opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out was a sneeze.

Ron shook his head and sighed. He pulled out his wand and tapped Hermione's head twice, reciting the drying charm. When he was finished, Hermione sat up just a little bit, closing her eyes as her brain pounded against her skull.

"Are you hungry?" Ron asked. "I can make you some soup, and then you can take some medicine or something."

"I'm not hungry." Hermione said, running her hand over her nose. Ron hadn't noticed, but Hermione had a small bottle of hand sanitizer sitting on her end table. She reached for it, and squirted some on her hands, sanitizing them.

"You need to get something in your system." Ron argued. He began walking to the kitchen, Hermione's soft, nasally congested voice following, but not her body.

"I'm fine Ron!" She said, resisting the urge to scream. Her throat hurt enough. 'What in Merlin's name am I sick with?' She asked herself. Hermione heard Ron going through her cupboards, looking for a pan to cook her soup in. She flinched when a loud clatter of pans fell to the floor, followed by a few swear words.

Every sound reverberated against her skull, making it eleven or twelve times louder than what it was.

A few minutes later, Ron came back with a steaming bowl of soup on a tray. Along with it was a cup of orange juice. Ron put the tray on Hermione's end table, and then he helped her sit up. He could see the pained expression on her face as she lifted her head off the arm of the couch.

When she was sitting up all the way, he set the tray on her lap. "Take your time, you don't have to eat it all." Ron said. He stood and watched her eat and drink.

After about four spoonfuls of soup, and a few sips of her orange juice, Ron noticed that her skin color had paled, if possible, to an even paler color. He watched as Hermione shakily put the tray on the end table. She returned her hands to her lap, and Ron saw that they were shaking horribly bad.

"Hermione…?"

"Help me up." Hermione demanded quietly. Her voice was extremely soft, and it took a moment for Ron to understand her.

Using both hands, Ron helped Hermione to her feet, and she swayed a bit. When Ron was sure Hermione was balanced, he let her go. She stumbled her way towards the bathroom, her legs shaky.

Ron followed, and caught her before her legs gave way. "I need to get to the bathroom." Hermione groaned. Ron helped her up, and helped her to the bathroom.

Not wanting Hermione to get cold again, when washing her hair, he stood behind her and held her hair back.

Hermione felt tears come to her eyes as she flushed the toilet.

Using one hand, Ron held Hermione's hair back, and reached for the clean glass that was sitting on the counter. He filled it up with water, and handed it to Hermione. Hermione swigged the water, and then spit it in the toilet, trying to get rid of the foul flavor in her mouth.

Hermione pulled away from the toilet, and Ron let go of her hair. "Can I take medicine now?" Hermione asked.

Ron nodded his head. Hermione pointed to her medicine cabinet. "I have stuff in there." She said. Ron again, nodded his head, and opened the cabinet. He saw Hermione's toothbrush and toothpaste. Above that shelf, he saw small bottles. He started reading them.

Ron started comparing her symptoms to the bottles. 'She's not coughing, but she's sneezing. Vomiting, headaches…what kind of medicine is this? It has everything in it…' "Are you stiff?" Ron asked, turning towards Hermione.

"A little." Hermione replied. "My back hurts."

"You've got just about every symptom known to man, and it's on this bottle." Ron said. He looked at the label. "Ibuprofen." He looked at the directions, and it said for her to take two.

Ron opened the bottle, and poured out two small red pills. He held the two pills, and closed the lid.

Handing Hermione the pills, he watched as she put them in her mouth, and swallowed them with water.

Ron helped Hermione stand up, and he helped her back to the couch. At first she struggled a bit, saying she could walk herself back to the couch, but Ron didn't believe her. So he helped her anyway.

And now, Hermione was fast asleep, covered up with a red blanket, on the couch. Ron was putting her bowl of soup in her microwave, or as he called it, 'The Minnie wave thingy'. He dumped her orange juice down the drain, and ate the chicken soup that was left in the pan. He tried to do every thing quietly, so as not to wake her.

When he was finished, he looked at the clock. Hermione had been asleep for an hour at least. He decided that he would wake her in two hours, so he could have her eat some more, and get more fluids in her system. He didn't want her to get dehydrated.

Ron walked into the living room, and sat down on the floor, in front of the couch. Before he knew it, he was asleep, his head resting against Hermione's stomach.

-----

BB/N: Hi! This chapter was interesting to write, seeing how it was 4:00 in the morning when I started it.

I hope everyone likes this chapter. I can't believe that this story was supposed to be a one shot. But I managed to make it have a pointless prologue and everything! Wow! I'm good. I'm on a role!

Now I must leave you to your other readings.

But before I go, sorry for not updating in like years! We've had some emergencies, band camp, and the fact that our Internet was shut off for a week didn't make the matters anymore pleasant.

Have a Nice Day or Evening!

Sincerely,

Bob Bennit